A large red, white and blue trailer emblazoned with the words Heroin Epidemic Relief Organization was parked a Saturday earlier this month in the lot at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park.
Curious parents attending a Christmas Without Cancer fundraiser at the entertainment venue were invited to enter. Dubbed by its operators as “Hidden in Plain Sight,” the trailer housed a mock-up of a teen’s bedroom where people could discover the trappings and telltale signs of substance abuse.
John Roberts, of Tinley Park, a retired Chicago police captain who cofounded HERO along with Brian Kirk, called the trailer an essential tool for stemming the growing heroin/opioid epidemic.
Along with its eye-opening trailer, HERO offers services including a family support group, grief support group, drug education, Narcan training, and access to educational speakers.
Roberts and Kirk both lost sons to overdoses just months apart. Unfortunately, their story is becoming all too familiar.
For people aged 18 to 45, drug overdose has become widely asserted as well as contested as the leading cause of death in the United States.
Either way, 106,699 Americans died of overdoses of illicit and prescription drugs in 2021, according to the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The annual figure is nearly twice the number of U.S. military deaths related to the Vietnam War and more than twice the number of country’s gun-related deaths in 2022. It’s also an annual death count that has nearly tripled in the last decade, due to illicit drugs and marijuana being laced with highly addictive and often lethal fentanyl.
Fentanyl is considered 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s approved by the Food and Drug Administration and added to many pain killers to make them stronger, but it’s also made illegally and added to illicit drugs.
“Many people don’t even know it’s in what they’re using, and they die,” Roberts said while standing outside of the Hidden in Plain Sight trailer. “People are afraid to face the truth as to the dangers of drugs.
“Parents will ask fellow parents if they’ve had the sex talk with their kids, but now they have to have the sex talk — and the drug talk. We have to educate parents, loved ones and law enforcement on what to look for and how to respond.”
Roberts’ son, Billy, died at age 19. “I want people to know my son, just like their loved ones, was more than his addiction. He was a great kid, a great soccer player. He was a leader. He had many friends. You would never think something like this could happen to him.”
When the family moved from Chicago to Homer Glen, Roberts noticed changes in Billy, who was spending more time alone and struggling to connect with new classmates.
HERO educational materials list signs of possible substance use as problems functioning at school and work, health problems such as lack of energy and weight loss, unclear thinking, and sudden requests for money.
After his son’s death in 2009, Roberts began a crusade to provide police departments with training on administering Narcan to overdose victims. His own son was saved twice by the local fire department.
Roberts and Kirk established the Hidden in Plain Sight trailer in partnership with the Will County State’s Attorney, New Lenox Police Department and Lincolnway Christian Church.
In the last seven years, they’ve brought the trailer to summer festivals, fundraisers, school and community events.
“This year, we set a record with over 50 events,” Roberts said. “Usually, we appear at 30 to 40.”
Lining the trailer’s walls are stash containers for hiding drugs. Available online and in local vape shops, these take the form of specially constructed soda cans, water bottles, light bulbs, key fobs, toy cars, Apple watches and orthotics for shoes.
Additional homemade stash compartments litter the bed, including oversize athletic shoes with heels hollowed out, shirts with slashed under collars, pants with slashed waistbands and a stuffed animal with a seam ripped open. A belt with a wear pattern marking the size of an arm instead of a person’s waist represents a tool for tying off and shooting up.
The trailer also features a desk littered with household items, including baking soda, used for making drugs.
Overhead, a poster reveals how over-the-counter cold and antidiarrheal medications are often abused, as well as how a heavily scented muscle rub can be used to throw off drug-sniffing dogs.
Co-founder Kirk retired from his involvement with HERO in 2019, but Roberts’s daughter, Bonnie Tongson, is the group’s community outreach coordinator and often staffs the trailer. A small army of volunteers also supports the organization, Roberts said, though additional help and financial support are still needed.
At the event in Merrionette Park, Tongson and HERO executive director Jan Dombrowski educated visitors about seemingly ordinary items, including a hooded sweatshirt constructed with special tube ties that enable people to vape undetected.
“I talk with people in active addiction or recovery,” Dombrowski said. “I also go to head shops and see what people are buying. We also talk with local police departments.”
Using a seat belt strap, Dombrowski demonstrated a hiding place many rely on when stopped by police — the portion of the seat belt that crosses the shoulder. “They tape the drugs to the inside,” she said. “Police don’t even think to look there unless they know.”
The Hidden in Plain Sight trailer stocks free doses of Narcan and plenty of educational materials for parents and loved ones.
A cheat sheet produced by the Drug Enforcement Administration lists text emojis commonly used to communicate about drug purchases. Snowflakes, snowmen and eight balls represent cocaine. References to meth appear as crystal balls or test tubes. Drug dealers advertise their wares with a crown, money bag and electrical plug. A cookie represents a drug batch.
Roberts said the November event was the last one for the trailer in 2023, but appearances will resume in spring.
For now, the HERO crusade continues during the winter months with the trailer’s contents — minus the bed, desk and dresser — displayed at schools, churches and other indoor locations upon request.
A HERO family support group meets Tuesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Lincolnway Christian Church, 690 E. Illinois Highway, New Lenox. A HERO grief support group meets the first and third Tuesdays from 7 to 8:30 at changing locations. More information is at www.TheHeroFoundation.org.
Susan DeGrane is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
