Heroin overdose kills Barrington teen
Published January 13, 2004 - Chicago Tribune

A Barrington teenager was found dead last week in his parents' home after overdosing on heroin, the latest in what officials say is an alarming rise in Lake County overdose deaths.
Ryan O'Neil, 17, was found unresponsive in his bedroom by his 15-year-old brother shortly before 7 a.m. Friday. O'Neil, a former Barrington High School student, had struggled with drug addiction for the last year and a half, said his father, Kevin....
Overdose deaths in Lake County have been steadily on the rise since 1996, when there were 17 deaths. In 2002, there were 49, outpacing traffic accident fatalities, which totaled 46, according to the coroner's office.
People younger than 20 accounted for three overdose deaths in 2002 and at least two overdose deaths last year, although final numbers for 2003 are not yet available.
An increasing number of the county's overdoses have been heroin-induced, said Coroner Jim Wipper, although he said statistics were not available Monday.
"It is disturbing," Wipper said. "There are plenty of substance abuse programs, but we are still seeing the drug deaths. I don't know what the solution is. We see the end result."

This is sad. But what strikes me as extraordinary is the fact that it is finally being openly talked about. Not in a vague statistical way, but with a name and place mentioned. And even a picture of the handsome, clean-cut young man. I do not know if Mr. O’Neil’s parents wanted it published or were just too bereft to work at keeping the news out of the papers. But it is about time that names and faces were linked with such a horrible and needless cause of death. I know of several other young people - acquaintances and classmates of my daughters’ - who died similar deaths. The cause of death was discussed in the way cancer must have been handled back when my grandmother died in 1932. Some sort of cancer - I can never give a complete medical history to my doctors because it was never discussed enough in my father’s presence (even when he was an adult) so that he could tell me.

So, anyway, if you were to scan the past few years of accumulated obituaries of Illinois’ most affluent county you might be left with the impression that there was a mystery disease that just creeps up and grabs talented, loved, intelligent, promising young people. I applaud the family of Ryan O’Neil for allowing the name of that disease to be mentioned.