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Nearly two years ago, the teen's body turned up in an alley on the West Side of Chicago. He had died of an apparent overdose after a weekend party at a St. Charles mansion, and his friends had dumped his corpse in the neighborhood where they bought drugs. Now three young people have been charged in the case.
The shocking death of Michael York and how heroin has invaded the Chicago suburbs
chicagomag.com - 4 weeks ago - 313 views
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First off, I didn't read the story, so shame on me for commenting, but this is the stereotypical situation: upscale magazine with caucasian demographics is shocked to discover that white kids are dying from heroin overdoses!
Yep. It's pretty obvious you didn't RTFA.
OK, I did RTFA, just now. I don't see how it should be so obvious I didn't RTFA. It was as I said it was - a story about white kids dying from heroin.
"It can't happen here, it can't happen here...." Frank Zappa
The stuff hit the 'burbs hard. I graduated from Andrew High School, in Tinley Park, in 1999. Handful of people I knew personally ODed on junk.
Finally had a chance to read this:
Story looks at sudden rise of heroin in St. Charles, Ill. starting in the late 90s when a few young "bad eggs" decided to switch up to H from marijuana and get their friends to try it, too. Local police were surprised that a "70s drug" could see such a comeback. While they were caught flatfooted at first, they've since created a narcotics unit in the local police force and community leaders have creatd rehab programs though the problems persist.
The main narrative in the piece tells the story of Michael York, a then 17-year-old St. Charles kid who was found dead of a heroin overdose in a North Lawndale alley. The article tells the story of a weekend at a weathy classmate's house that included a 100-person house party, copious drug use, and multiple trips back into North Lawndale to buy more heroin with the rich girl and two others.
One night all four of them got high, York passed out, they put him to bed, and he never woke up. Rather than take him to the hospital or the police, one of the men suggested they dump his body back in North Lawndale so the Chicago police would label it an overdose rather than a homicide. So they did.
The article details the legal repercussions for that weekend, the other three have been charged with various crimes and could all face jail time if prosecuted. It also spends some time with York's mother, who was understandably devastated, enraged, and confused by the whole thing. Tragically, when her son told her he was going to hang out with some friends that weekend she didn't look into it, though she knew of his history of drug use and circle of troubled friends.
There is no mention of his father in the article.
It's a sad piece that does a good job of telling the story of how heroin came back into these communities and how the kids go about getting their hands on it. As someone who grew up in a cloistered white enclave just a stone's throw away from a ghetto (Benton Harbor, Michigan) it reminded me a lot of some of the kids I knew and the parties I heard about in high school.
Whew. Awesome comments, Brad.
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