Opioid abuse drives a surge in violence
Addicts, turf wars have cities struggling for answers
ST. LOUIS – The anti-violence activists had just started their regular late-night walk through a tough neighborhood in one of the nation’s most violent cities when they came upon a group of heroin addicts screaming profane threats.
It wasn’t clear what the fight was about. But the Rev. Kenneth McKoy, the leader of the activists with Night-LIFE ministry, quickly figured out a heroin addict named Ronald — who had a reputation of packing a gun — and a middle-age woman were at the center of the confrontation.
McKoy, whom the addicts in the Fountain Park neighborhood know as the Christian man offering sandwiches, potato chips and prayer, decided he needed to de-escalate the situation quickly. After three years of leading his ministry of “violence interrupters” — always while wearing a
clerical collar to make clear that he’s not a cop — the reverend has earned a measure of respect from the addicts. So when he asked the woman to take a walk with him, she obliged after bit more cussing.
“That could have gotten ugly very quickly,” said McKoy, who persuaded the woman to leave before the confrontation turned violent.
Welcome to Saturday night at the hardscrabble intersection where America’s battle against opioid abuse meets violence.
After two straight years of seeing the national homicide rate climb, crime analysts project that the 2017 national murder toll dipped slightly and the homicide rate hovers near historic lows.
Yet, in several American cities — including Baltimore, Chicago and St. Louis — the level of violence remains stubbornly high and leaves policymakers, police chiefs and activists desperately searching for answers.
The violence in St. Louis is perhaps the most daunting. Last year, the city recorded 205 homicides — the highest in a single year for St. Louis since 1994. The per capita murder toll, about 66 homicides per 100,000 residents, is higher than Baltimore’s and more than double Chicago’s.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson named a police department veteran, John Hayden, last month to serve as the new chief for this city of about 310,000.
As he took the helm, Hayden said that trust in police was too low in some of the city’s African-American neighborhoods and that improving the frayed relationship was paramount to reducing violence. Long-simmering distrust worsened after the controversial police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August 2014 in nearby Ferguson. St. Louis police solved roughly 36% of the murders committed in 2017, according to department data.
But crime analysts say another factor, at least on a national scale, appears to be showing signs of driving violence: the expansion of illicit drug markets brought about by an epidemic of heroin and opioid addiction.
Arrests for sale or possession of heroin or cocaine fell 9.2% from 2010 to 2013, even as heroin use rates rose. Arrests then rose 12.5% in 2015, the latest year for which national data are available.
“There are a lot more desperate people looking for drugs.” Activist Jay Kanzler
The timing of the increase of drug arrests coincides with the national rise in homicides, noted a study in November by the U.S. Justice Department-affiliated National Institute for Justice. And drug-related killings accounted for 22% of the increase of homicides nationally for which police determined a motive, the analysis said.
The crime analysts who wrote the paper (University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Richard Rosenfeld, Indiana University’s Shytierra Gaston, and the institute’s Howard Spivak and Seri Irazola) say it’s also noteworthy that the number of non-Hispanic white homicide victims increased by 8.2%. That’s the largest jump in victimization for the group since the 9/11 attacks.
Rosenfeld said in an interview that the opioid epidemic may be less significant to the overall murder toll in cities such as St. Louis where gang activity and strained relations between the police and public also are factors. Hayden added that while St. Louis saw opioid-related overdoses spike in the second half of 2017, it’s unclear whether the epidemic is a factor in St. Louis’ surge of violence.
“A lot of the drugs we see and recover at shooting scenes are individually wrapped pieces of crack, individually wrapped marijuana,” Hayden told USA TODAY. “Is the opioid epidemic having an impact on the violence we are seeing? I’m not sure we can make that connection yet.”
But the Night LIFE activists say it has become clear to them that America’s opioid crisis has added a dynamic that is increasingly perpetuating gun violence in St. Louis.
“It has everything to do with the opioid epidemic,” said Jay Kanzler, an attorney, Episcopal priest and talk radio host who has been walking the streets with Night LIFE for 21⁄ years. “There are a lot more desperate people looking for drugs. There are a lot more people looking to sell drugs, and therefore people are fighting one another for their turf.”
McKoy has experienced the volatile mix of opioid addiction and guns firsthand. His 26-year-old son, Lyndon, was a gang member who has struggled with addiction, has been shot and has spent time in jail. The pastor said he hasn’t been able to persuade his own child to get the help he needs, and McKoy said he has found himself distancing himself from the ordeal.
Still, he describes Lyndon as his “best kid.” The young man calls on him every few days to check up on him and worries about him ministering on the street, McKoy said. Lyndon’s sweet nature is a reminder that there is more to the drug-addled and violent people he ministers to on the street.
Said McKoy, “I think maybe it’s going to take someone else to save my son, and my job is to help save someone else’s child.”