Pubdate: Wed, 16 Nov 2005
Source: Eagle-Tribune, The (MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Eagle-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.eagletribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/129
Author: Jill  Harmacinski
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

COUNTY GETS $200K TO KEEP KIDS OFF OXYCONTIN, HEROIN

MIDDLETON - Essex County has been awarded a $200,000 federal grant
to educate kids about the deadly consequences of using heroin and the
prescription painkiller OxyContin.

Congressman John Tierney is expected to present the grant money to
local officials during a 10 a.m. ceremony Monday at the Middleton
Jail. Fighting opiate abuse requires partners at the federal level,
Tierney said, "to grapple with a problem of this size."

"The more we recognize these issues cross city, town and states ...
the better off we are," Tierney said.

News of the grant was well-received by local officials, who have been
speaking out at forums, organizing workshops for parents and urging
schools and city officials to come up with plans to prevent drug abuse
by the region's youth. "I'm very excited about this," District
Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. "This is another tool we can use to
help us fight this terrible scourge and another opportunity for us to
get out front on the prevention side." Essex County Sheriff Frank
Cousins praised his staffer, Jamie Gagnon, who wrote the grant
application.

"This is great news," said Cousins, noting he was pleased the
"severity of this problem" was recognized at the federal level.

He said U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy called him last week to tell him the
county had received the Juvenile Justice Discretionary Grant. Sen.
John Kerry also supported the measure, Tierney said. Officials are
expected to meet after Monday's press conference to discuss exactly
how the money will be used.

Blodgett said the funds could mesh with the new Choose to Refuse
program, a six-part anti-opiate program developed by his staff. The
program was created using the anonymous survey responses of 700 school
children in Essex County. "This might be a great way to dovetail
that," Blodgett said. The North Shore's opiate epidemic came into
focus in January at a daylong seminar at Merrimack College. The
workshop, which focused on the dangers of drug abuse in the region,
was sponsored by the Essex County Crime Council and attended by more
than 500 people. The council's 22 members include police officers,
businesspeople, teachers and religious leaders. Blodgett urges
lawmakers to pass a bill that would require emergency room workers to
report drug overdoses to the state Department of Public Health. That
would allow officials and health care workers to better track how
widespread drug addiction is in the region.

Last year, at least 39 people died from opiate-related overdoses in
Essex County. Though some toxicology reports are still pending, police
suspect overdoses were also to blame in another 41 deaths.

In 2001, the last year for which state health statistics are
available, there were 59 fatal opiate overdoses in the county,
compared to only 19 in  1991.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake