DASA Director responds to Puerto Rican addict pipeline

DASA Director responds to Puerto Rican addict pipeline
DASA Director responds to Puerto Rican addict pipeline

DASA Director responds to Puerto Rican addict pipeline

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As you’ve been hearing on WBEZ, heroin addicts from Puerto Rico are being sent to Chicago - sometimes with one-way tickets from police there, or from government authorities. The men are told they’re coming for high-end treatment. The places they end up are often rundown, unlicensed residences with no treatment, and many addicts leave. They end up on the street and sometimes in jail. Reporter Adriana Cardona Maguigad brought us this story, which aired recently here and on This American Life. Theodora Binion is acting director of the Illinois Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, the agency that licenses treatment centers, and she talks about what’s going on here and what should be done.(Flickr/Ricymar Photography)