Atlanta News 5:00 a.m. Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Heroin a deadly draw in ‘Bluff’
Zack Elliott was slumped in the back seat of his grandfather’s car when children from “The Bluff” found him.
Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition collects and disposes of used needles during a needle exchange from drug users during a street outreach on Jett Street near the intersection with James P. Brawley in Southwest Atlanta.
The 21-year-old drove from his Newnan home into the notorious haven for heroin in northwest Atlanta before dawn May 1 looking for a fix. Some time during the night, he pulled over on a side street to shoot up. Quietly and alone, he succumbed to his vice one last time and died of an overdose.
Elliott fits a profile the U.S. Department of Justice found during a 2010 analysis of Atlanta’s drug market: More young Caucasians are traveling from suburban counties into the city to buy heroin. They buy a gram for about $160 and return home to abuse the drug and sell the leftovers, the analysis says.
This year, three young men from the northern suburbs died within a month of each other from heroin overdoses, prompting renewed concern around the issue.