Pubdate: Wed, 19 May 2004
Source: Belmont Citizen-Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2004 Community Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/belmont/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3552
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

STATE FACES ITS DRUG PROBLEMS

Massachusetts has one of the highest drug and alcohol abuse rates in the 
nation, and is ranked first for Oxycontin and heroin use. It's about time 
the commonwealth got serious about its drug problems. This week,  Lt. Gov. 
Kerry Healey unveiled a proposal to increase funding for prevention 
and  rehabilitation services, and the state Legislature seems likely to 
approve some  version of the plan in the near future. The 
Romney  Administration's new plan emphasizes drug use in schools. High 
school and middle  school students are just one demographic group among the 
substance-abusing  population, but they are an important group. Young 
people tend to be less  committed to their drug habits, and more able to 
break their habits, than those  who have been addicted longer. And in the 
controlled environment of school, they are more easily identified. We 
don't  support the Romney Administration's proposal to encourage drug 
testing of high  school students. We believe random drug testing is 
excessive and punitive, and  assumes students are guilty until proven 
innocent. We do support treatment for convicted substance abusers. The 
current responses to drug abusers  - usually either incarceration or parole 
with drug testing - have little impact  on the long-term problems.

Unfortunately,  the administration's proposal does not include enough 
funding to provide drug  treatment for every substance abuser who wants to 
stop. Healey said  the requested budget appropriation of $9.1 million would 
help 6,000 to 8,000  more drug users get rehab services.

But a recent  Brandeis University study estimated that 40,000 Massachusetts 
residents sought  drug abuse treatment last year, but were denied because 
of a lack of resources.

Although the  current plan is not enough, it is a step in the right 
direction. The first step  is for Massachusetts to stop denying its drug 
and alcohol problems, and to seek  a permanent cure.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman