Pubdate: Thu, 24 Aug 2006
Source: Tewksbury Advocate (MA)
Copyright: 2006 Community Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/tewksbury
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3797
Author: Megg Crook, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

HEROIN'S GROWING HOLD

WOBURN - There is a spreading epidemic among Woburn's young and most 
residents have no idea it is happening. Heroin is spreading through 
the streets and high schools of not only Woburn, but also Reading, 
Stoneham and Wilmington, throughout Middlesex county.

"They'll all start snorting it, and when that high isn't enough, 
they'll start shooting it," said Lt. Bob Rufo of the Woburn Police 
Department's drug unit, who is working closely with Wilmington Police 
on this problem.

"It's really sad, a big group of kids that are very addicted to it," he said.

It often starts with a free sample. Young adults and teens, from 17 
to 23, are offered a free sample of OxyContin, a highly addictive 
opiate. OxyContin is difficult to get, and sells for up to $80 a pill 
on the street, according to Michael Higgins, the Woburn District 
Court Parole Officer. Users are then turned onto heroin, as it's from 
the same family of drugs and is much cheaper.

Where a six pack of beer costs on average $5.99 - and cannot be 
legally sold to anyone under 21 - the cost of a hit of heroin is less than $4.

The problem is not unique to Woburn. Neighboring towns have seen as 
many teens as Woburn addicted to heroin. And with the drugs high 
purity, overdoses are common.

As teenagers and young adults are starting to get into heroin, 
parents and others are turning a blind eye.

"People don't know, and they don't want to hear about it," Higgins 
said. "It's not good news."

"So many people are closed-minded about the fact that kids in high 
school aren't smoking marijuana, they're using heroin," Rufo said.

As they watched more and more teens die on their beat, officers like 
Rufo and Woburn Lt. Robert Ferullo, realized there was very little 
they could do.

"It's very difficult to get a kid into a facility at 8 or 9 or 10 on 
a weekend night," Ferullo said, stressing the importance of getting 
teenagers a bed. "For any junkie, the next fix could be their last."

Bed Gap

"There's kind of been a gap as to what to do," said Detective Tom 
Miller of the Wilmington Police Department. "We've tried to get kids 
into programs, but there were never enough beds available when we needed one."

Both Higgins and Vincent Piro, assistant chief probation officer at 
the Woburn District Court had also noticed a sudden spike in 
heroin-related crimes, but like the police, they could not readily help.

"We thought it was getting out of control," Higgins said. "They kept 
coming in and there was nothing we could do."

"There's a shame factor involved," Higgins said. "Parents will go to 
their wits' end to help, but they don't want the public to know. When 
you have to ask us, you have exhausted your remedies. Our goal was to 
get to them before it was too late."

Higgins and Piro were watching as teenagers from good families with 
promising futures slipped into this addiction, unable to get the help 
they needed.

Recognizing a problem in the works, Higgins turned to legislatures 
and grants to cobble together a program that will help those in the 
beginning of the addiction. That's when they turned to the HEAT.

Heroin Education Awareness Taskforce is a program that aims to 
educate the public and also help teens by getting them into clinics 
where they can de-toxify and get the help they need without slipping 
back into their addictions. Seeing the same problem in each of the 
towns in the district, Higgins and Piro met with the chiefs of police 
and elected officials, seeking money to support the program they devised.

After receiving a $400,000 state grant, Higgins and Piro provided 
educational funding for the communities through school programs and 
pamphlets detailing the facts of a heroin addiction.

Set-Aside

But more important, they secured 10 beds in the Center for Addictive 
Behaviors in Danvers, spaces set-aside for the HEAT program, 
available anytime they're needed. While 10 beds are not enough for 
all the heroin addicts in seven communities, it's a start, confesses Higgins.

Addicts go through detox, without other drugs to help them along 
which is not a pretty sight, Higgins said. Next, they are educated 
about the drug, and how to stay off it while preparing for the next 
phase: long-term treatment at another facility.

"They're not cured in 15 to 30 days" they spend in Danvers, Piro 
said. "There is a complete follow-up. Depending on the case, they 
could be in treatment for the rest of their lives."

The other, and equally important component of the HEAT program is 
education. Presenting schools, teachers, nurses and parents the facts 
of heroin addiction, Higgins and Piro hopes to convince residents the 
problem is as extensive as it is.

"This is not a DARE approach," Piro said, not wanting to sugarcoat 
the message, as many residents will not want to hear it. Piro and 
Higgins are more concerned with getting the word out on the street. 
Aimed at first-time heroin offenders, this program is not for 
hardcore drug addicts; there are other programs to serve "general 
population" abusers, Higgins said.

"You can find a bed for an alcoholic or a hard-core heroin addict, 
but until now, there was nothing for first-time offenders, beginning 
users," Higgins said.

If a first-time offender was given a bed, it was often with the 
general population of heroin users, Piro explained. There, the 
youngster could learn just as many ways to beat the system as to beat 
the habit.

"[Heroin users] are the most manipulative people you've ever dealt 
with," Higgins said. "You wouldn't know what hit you. Their only 
focus is how to get high."

And HEAT has had an immediate impact as each space at Center for 
Addictive Behaviors were filled in the first week, Higgins said.

Rufo said they used some over the weekend, a luxury they did not have before.

"We've got 10 beds at our disposal, and we're just going to try and 
start getting these kids the help they need," Rufo said. "Their life 
is horrible and they can't help themselves. They have the most 
voracious addiction there is, and they wake up every day looking for 
their next fix."

"This is a battle we're never going to win, it's a frustrating 
battle," Higgins said. "And no one can hide from it."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman