DETROIT – The heroin epidemic in the suburbs of Detroit has received plenty of attention, but a woman who's tired of seeing drug abuse near her home said the city has a battle of its own.
Jessica Miller Ramirez uses her house on the corner of Pitt and Pearl streets in Southwest Detroit as a safe haven for children to get off the school bus. She runs her own nonprofit organization called Detroiters Helping Each Other.
Last week, Ramirez said she saw something alarming.
"We caught a neighbor selling needles for $5 to the heroin addicts out here and we chased them off the block," Ramirez said.
She said she found a bunch of dirty needles next door.
"Thank God he was cleaning up the yard and found the needles," Ramirez said. "Otherwise, a kid would have got poked with a needle."
On Monday, Ramirez found a man passed out around the corner from her home. She called 911 and snapped a photo of him. Medical workers helped the man wake up, and he started talking to Ramirez.
"He was open that he was from Canton," Ramirez said. "His mom passed away and he started coming down here."
The shocking photo provided a look at the heroin epidemic passing right near Ramirez's home. She said the man revealed he recently relapsed, had just shot up and was open to getting help.
"I told him I took his picture and was going to share it, and he said, 'Maybe it will help somebody,'" Ramirez said. "That's what he said.
"If the people who are addicts would stay out and stop coming for drugs, then it might help."