Pubdate: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2001 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378 Feedback: http://extranet.globe.com/LettersEditor/default.asp Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Author: Adrian Walker, Globe Staff Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) HEROIN LURE IS GROWING This might be the stereotype of a heroin addict: a middle-aged, longtime drug user with track marks and a vacant expression. This is the reality on the streets of Boston: a teenage user who has never shot any drug, lured to snort heroin that has steadily become cheaper, purer, and more potent over recent years - and no less addictive. It's not news that heroin has taken its place with marijuana and crack cocaine as a street drug of choice, meaning the fight against the deadly drug is more important than ever. Tomorrow, an ambitious program to address the growing popularity of the drug will be unveiled at the South Boston Neighborhood House on H Street, in one of the neighborhoods most harmed by heroin. "The healthy stigma associated with heroin really isn't there anymore," said Michael Kineavy, director of the Office of Neighborhood Services. "We have a lot of young people who don't have that fear of heroin addiction that was there a few years ago. I don't think they can comprehend the addictive powers of heroin." The three-part program is aimed at the growing community of younger users as well as their parents. An hourlong video, to begin airing on the city's public-access cable channel next week, will highlight the dangers of heroin addiction. In addition, a local communications firm, Holland Mark Edmund Ingalls, produced a campaign free of charge to warn parents of the danger signs of addiction and where to turn for help. Finally, $1 million in federal and state funds is to be allocated to provide more space in residential care for addicts trying to kick the habit. The program debuts at a precarious time for drug treatment in South Boston. The South Boston courthouse, which has been the command post for many of the neighborhood's treatment efforts, is scheduled to close for renovation next year, prompting fears already that some of the people it serves will disappear from treatment. Of course, the heroin problem is not limited to South Boston. The director of the city's public health commission, John Auerbach, rates the neighborhoods with the most pressing heroin problems in this order: Dorchester, South Boston, Roxbury, the South End, and East Boston. "That's not to say it's not in other neighborhoods," Auerbach said. "Those are the ones we're seeing the most in." One of the big problems, Auerbach said, is the plunging price of the drug. "A bag of heroin that will get a couple of people high is less expensive than a six-pack. It's not a lot of heroin, but it's enough. "The second thing we know is that the purity level of heroin has risen over the past few years. The heroin being sold now is so pure that you don't need to shoot it in your arm." Being free of the need to inject the drug has made heroin more attractive to a lot of people, who can use the drug with less of the stigma historically associated with it. "Teens like the idea of snorting for a couple reasons," Auerbach said. "They might be worried about [transmission of HIV]. And they don't think of it as the same kind of addictive drug. It gets them hooked by what seems to be a less pernicious way of getting high." Analysts say it's hard to tell whether the city's heroin problem is worsening. But no one seems to think it's getting better. Emergency workers and police say there has been an uptick in non-fatal calls, as well as overdoses in which no aid is called in. While the high-profile rash of fatal overdoses of a few years ago may have peaked, heroin's lure remains strong. "It's like a tornado just ripping through families," Kineavy said. "If someone is using heroin in the household, it's a problem that's there every day." - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager