Part Two in a series about heroin and its impact on local families.

Everyone treated Kim Moultrup like she had leprosy when she sought help for her teenage daughter who was hooked on heroin.
Her daughter was a beautiful Clarkston High School cheerleader. A girl you would never look at and think was a drug addict.
No one knew how to help her find help for her daughter. Authorities told Moultrup it was best to avoid getting her daughter mixed up with the legal system. Doctors were clueless how to help.
‘One doctor said to me. ‘I bet you’re embarrassed,?? Moultrup remembers. ‘We felt as if we were the only family who was dealing with this.?
That was eight years ago and she said heroin has been in town for quite a while. No one wanted to talk about it then, and no one wants to talk about it now.
‘We had to seek help and answers outside of our community because no-one here knew what to do or where to send us for the help we needed or they said it’s a phase,? she said.
‘Heroin has been in Clarkston for years,? Moultrup added. ‘I drive to two cemeteries weekly to visit kids that didn’t get the help they needed and they were both Clarkston High School graduates. They started using heroin when they were in school. It’s sad. People need to get their head out of the sand.?
She believes her daughter’s addiction started after she got her tonsils out and was given Vicodin, an opiate pain killer.
‘She went back to the doctor and kept saying her throat hurt, and they gave her another prescription,? her mother said.
Tonya Cunningham from Clarkston Coalition Youth said kids are regularly prescribed narcotic medications often after being injured in sports activities or if they get a tooth pulled.
Medications are also easily obtained from medicine cabinets of friends and family.
The problem society faces now started years ago. Prescription medications have been freely prescribed since the 90s when pain management doctors doctors fought to make pain a vital sign, along with respiration rate, pulse, temperature, heart-rate and blood pressure.
Doctors fought to increase the use of narcotic medications once rarely prescribed and soon doctors started writing scripts for every ill.
Kim White’s daughter is a full blown heroin addict, and she believes her daughters addiction started when she was in 10th grade at Clarkston High School.
White also believes her daughter heroin addiction started with prescription drugs.
‘My daughter was clean for 19 months and then she relapsed,? said White. ‘I have to do whatever I can, tell whoever I can to help save my child.?
White gathers with other parents in ‘My Hope? to talk about the very painful reality their children’s fate.
‘Everyday I wake up and wonder if I am going to lose my daughter today,? White said.
The Oakland County morgue claims deaths from prescription drugs keep doubling every year. Now prescription drug abuse is making way to a new epidemic heroin.
‘It’s like a one-two punch,? Oakland County Medical Examiner Drogovic. ‘By July 2014 we already reached the number of deaths we had the entire year of 2013.”
It is time for society, and communities to step-up and address these problems, Drogovic said.
‘Somehow we have to break the stereotype and our cultural thoughts in regards to drug use,? he said. ‘Groups, the governments, schools, police need to help.?
The more who use drugs, the more drug abuse spreads, the doctor said.
‘Society as a whole and our communities must pull all our resources together. We must step-up and address these problems,” Drogovic warned.
The problem society faces now started years ago.
Prescription medications have flowed freely for over two decades, and America got hooked.
Dragovic said we have a social responsibility to work together on this problem.
He said all of our community groups and resources need to be one one page to help fight this problem. by mobilizing all resources and getting one page.
“This treatment needs to include state and local forces,” he said.
Michigan now ranks 17th in the country for prescription drug deaths. Other states have huge problems with the prescription drugs and heroin epidemic.
‘Drug deaths were rare 24 years ago,? Dragovic said. ‘Now we see them all the time.?
An estimated 80 percent of new heroin users were first addicted to prescription medication.
Independence Township Oakland County Sheriff Department Lt. Dirk Feneley said heroin use is on the rise in North Oakland County, including right here in Clarkston.
Accepting other drugs into society is not helping, said Drug Enforcement Agent special agent in charge Rich Isaacson.
“Society’s acceptance of the longtime illegal gateway drug marijuana is troubling,” he said.
‘The legalization and decriminalizing of marijuana fuels kids into thinking drugs is acceptable ? marijuana these days is way more potent than it used to be.”
Next time: What can be done to help?