Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jan 2005
Source: Swampscott Reporter (Marblehead, MA)
Copyright: 2005 Swampscott Reporter
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/swampscott/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3582
Author: Bob Gates
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

HUNDREDS HEAR ABOUT HEROIN HORRORS

A packed gymnasium of educators, police officers, clergy, parents and 
others took the first significant step together last week in battling the 
escalating toll of heroin, Oxycontin and other opiates in Essex County.

The gathering, arranged by District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and Essex 
County Sheriff Frank Cousins, was the first of many public dialogues 
expected about dangerously addictive drugs that have killed dozens and 
hospitalized many more across the region in recent years.

"It truly is a horrific epidemic and a community problem," Blodgett said. 
"This is a fight we can not afford to lose. If we don't all work together, 
the fight will be that much harder."

Lynn firefighter Timothy Lawrence, who lost his daughter Kathleen to a 
heroin overdose in 2003, said he learned firsthand that parents often have 
trouble confronting drug use when it is by their own kid.

Before her death, he told Kathleen that it was not good for her to be at 
the parties she attended.

"A lot of times it was in good families' houses," Lawrence recalled.

Soon, the signs of opiate use surfaced.

"We become blind when it is our own kids," he said. "Other people can see 
it in our kids, but for some reason we can't see it in our own kids."

He encouraged parents to have conversations with their children and not to 
be afraid to be a parent.

Five years ago, Essex County became one of 13 New England counties 
designated as High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas by the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy.

Since taking office, Blodgett has made it a priority to reiterate to local 
media, parents and educators the dangers of opiates. Until recently, most 
remained unalarmed and unconcerned.

Then came Jeff Allison of Peabody, a first-round draft pick of the Florida 
Marlins bound for stardom as a top-notch major league baseball pitcher. But 
he showed up late for spring training last year, and later that summer was 
rushed to a Lynn hospital after a heroin overdose. His story started to get 
attention, and before long other prominent, and otherwise typical North 
Shore youngsters, including the son of a school superintendent and a 
football coach's son, were revealed as addicts. It wasn't just a back-alley 
drug anymore.

"For every Jeff Allison, there are a thousand kids like him," said Lynn 
Police Officer Larry Wentzell, who works in the schools. "It isn't just 
about criminals and homeless people."

Sooner or later, many addicts do show up in jail, said the panelists who 
spoke to the 500 people packed into a Merrimack College gym.

Cousins said 70 percent of the 1,600 inmates at the Essex County 
Correctional Facility in Middleton are drug users. Of those, the drug of 
choice is heroin, he said.

"Today's Oxycontin defendant is tomorrow's heroin addict," said Marsha 
Kazarosian, a defense attorney who often represents drug users. "Help is 
important early on."

Why Here? Why Now?

Heroin has rattled the region for several reasons, said George Festa, 
director of the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area - high purity, low 
prices and effective marketing techniques.

Like Lawrence, members of the gathered panel never suggested they had the 
answer to stop opiate use and abuse, but instead drew on their knowledge 
and experience to share with others ideas about how to take it on.

"We have never had more tools in our collective tool box to address this 
problem," said Dr. Stephen Valle, president of Adcare Criminal Justice 
Services.

Like others, Wentzell said making children aware of the dangerous and 
addictive nature of opiates is key.

"Drug education is the key to making any difference on this issue," he said.

And when users graduate from snorting the drug to injecting it, said the 
Rev. Rodney Hart, director of New England Teen Challenge, a local chapter 
of a national drug rehab program and a recovered addict himself, the risk 
of getting HIV from the needle is no deterrent.

"The power of that drug is something that captures you," he said.

When a heroin user is addicted, getting locked up in jail often becomes the 
point he turns for help, he said.

"Opiate addiction is not a choice, it is a lifestyle," said Wentzell.

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, a Beverly resident who also spoke at the conference, 
said the state's heroin epidemic became clear to her last summer after a 
series of meetings with local leaders.

"I think this is an intensely local and grassroots issue," she said, vowing 
to increase funding to drug treatment programs. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake