MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – At 31 years old, Christopher Hocker had been getting high for almost 20 years. Hocker says he started drinking and smoking pot in middle school. He picked up cocaine while working in the restaurant business and later heroin.
“I did it and fell in love with it,” said Hocker. “When i would get high, everything was mellow.”
He craved the feeling, no matter what it cost.
“When I ran out of things to sell, when I ran out of money to borrow from family, I turned to things on the street,” said Hocker.
Eventually heroin cost him his job, family and friends. It’s a story Solicitor Jimmy Richardson says is becoming all too common in Horry County.
“For years, it was always cocaine and crack, now it’s all heroin,” said Richardson.
The coroners office reported only eight heroin deaths in 2012. That number more than doubled in 2013 and it continued to rise in 2014.
“When you talk about a physical addiction, it doesn’t get any worse than heroin,” explained Richardson
Emergency Medical Director Dr. Joe Pangia says most heroin addicts start with prescription pills.
“Some of the worst drug addicts are people who are in legitimate, chronic pain,” he said.
According to the Center for Disease Control, health care providers wrote more than 250 million prescriptions for pain killers in 2012. That’s enough for every american adult to have a bottle of pills.
“The honest reality is nobody should be on these pain medications for more than a few weeks maximum ever,” said Pangia. “Yet we have people who are on them for years.”
Pangia told News 13 when people can no longer afford prescription pills, they switch to heroin.
“Heroin on the street is much cheaper and it’s much easier to get,” he stated.
“It’s everywhere, it’s not your impoverished communities, it’s in your gated area, just as much as anywhere else,” said an anonymous DEU Deputy Commander.
He says the Drug Enforcement Unit conducts undercover heroin operation six to eight times a week.
These operations can take months at a time. He says they’ll often start with a tip, then conduct surveillance. Once they collect enough information, they’ll execute a search warrant.
“Heroine is a scary, scary product,” he said.
However, Officers say a more dangerous version of the drug is trending in Horry County.
“We’re seeing a lot of heroin either mixed with fentanyl or the drug itself replaced with fentanyl,” said the Deputy Commander.
Fentanyl is used to put people under for surgery.
“It”s a much stronger high and I don’t think people are prepared for it.”
“When a bad batch of heroine comes through, it’s people dropping like flies,” explained Richardson.
He believes in tackling the issue head on with prevention. He says the vast majrity of heroin addicts start at an early age, stealing their parents prescription pills. Richardson is preparing to launch a video campaign in Horry County schools to encourage parents to clean out their medicine cabinets
“Hopefully create a discussion, hopefully clean out the medicine cabinets and hopefully bring up a real uncomfortable issue of looming drug addictions and the terrible things that come along with it,” said Richardson.
Christopher knows first hand the consequences, but he was able to overcome his addiction.
“I knew change had to happen or I was just going to die on the streets somewhere,” said Hocker.
