I don't know whether there is an increase in the use of drugs in our community, or whether it is just more open and "in your face."  Heroin is becoming a problem on Long Island and that problem is more dangerous than ever before. 

In my youth, there was heroin, but it was part of a dark world that no one I knew ever belonged to.  It was physically ugly - ugly track marks, unkempt appearances and sluggish mannerisms.  We saw movies of how addictive it was and even though drugs were being used in the 60s and 70s, heroin belonged to a whole other world.

Now heroin is readily available to our youth.  Kids could get heroin for $6 and snort it, rather than having to shoot it up.  You cannot tell if our children are using heroin by just looking at them because there are no longer the telltale signs. 

The drug is more attractive to kids now because it is just not as ugly as it used to be.  But – it's just as deadly.  It's addictive and snorting soon turns to shooting up.  It becomes expensive to feed the habit, which is why we are seeing an increase of burglaries in our area.

But it's not just heroin, but all narcotics use seems to be on the rise or at least more out in the open.  Maybe it's because when we were young, it was illegal to advertise pharmaceutical drugs.  Now it seems that there's a pill for everything from restless leg syndrome to male enhancement drugs advertised constantly during our television shows.

Kids see drugs advertised on television with people walking in fields and enjoying a better life – all because they took a pill.  Our medicine cabinets are lined with half-filled prescriptions of pain killers – again right in our children's faces.

So then why are we surprised that they smoke pot in the middle of the afternoon on our blocks and right in front of our young children.  Our four year olds are finding drug paraphernalia on their front lawns.  We are living in very scary times.  What will happen if our young children find some pills in a bag and think it's candy? 

What will happen when our young children prick themselves on needles they find strewn on their front lawn? I remember one season years ago when they closed Jones Beach almost every day because needles and other medical waste was being washed up on our beaches.  And now our children are finding needles on their front lawns.  And what are we doing about it?  What kind of a world are these young children growing up in?

I worry about our children who are using drugs.  I worry about our children who are finding drugs when playing in their yards.  And I worry about the small children who see teenagers openly using drugs "in their face."  Small children look up to teenagers and want to emulate them.  What are we teaching our children and what can we do about it?

I don't know if just by saying heroin is becoming more prevalent in our neighborhoods makes it acceptable.  I believe District Attorney Kathleen Rice has the right idea in going after the pushers.  These pushers are responsible for the increase in burglaries.  These pushers are responsible for the addiction of our youth.  These pushers are responsible for the paraphernalia that our children are finding on their front lawns.  And these pushers are responsible for the degeneration of our future generations. 

I love my community and I care about its future.  I worry for our teenagers who are living in a period where drugs are so readily available.  I worry for our safety as more and more youth are burglarizing our homes to feed their habit.  And I worry about our future generation, who are being exposed to things that they are not old enough to understand.

(The North Merrick Community Association is holding a meeting tomorrow, March 10 at 7 p.m. at the North Merrick Library and have invited the POP officers to speak about narcotics in our community.)