According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid and heroin overdose deaths hit record levels in 2014. The alarming rise in heroin deaths has tripled since 2010.
The Chicago area ranked No. 1 in emergency room visits mentioning heroin, nearly doubling New York's 2011 numbers. Since 2012, heroin has resulted in approximately one death every three days here.
Tonight, the PBS series "Frontline" focuses on the heroin crisis. Watch the trailer below; see the full show here.
Jody Daitchman co-founded a nonprofit anti-heroin education and advocacy foundation called Live4Lali after she found her college sophomore son, Alex, dead from a heroin overdose. Her Arlington Heights-based organization is trying to expand the availability of the heroin overdose antidote, Naloxone.
"No one is immune to it," said Daitchman of the heroin crisis. "It's anyone from any lifestyle, it doesn't really matter, it doesn't discriminate. It can happen to anybody that never thinks it'll happen to them, unfortunately."
Lali's law passed in Springfield in November and is now being introduced on a federal level.
Daitchman joins Ramsen Kasha, the executive director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Chicago to talk with us about the heroin crisis in Chicago.
Below, a slideshow of photos of Daitchman's son, Alex.
Related
Combating the Rising Use of Heroin in City, Suburbs
Aug. 4, 2015: Some advocates and law enforcement officials say heroin use is rising in Illinois and that Chicago has one of the largest open drug markets in the country.
Sen. Kirk Expands Heroin Overdose Efforts
Dec. 29, 2014: U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk expands efforts to fight heroin overdoses in Cook and surrounding counties.
