Pubdate: Thu, 27 Apr 2006
Source: Melrose Free Press (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Community Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/melrose/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3790
Author: Greg Duggan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

TACKLING SUBSTANCE ABUSE HEAD-ON

The posters will begin appearing around the city with 
attention-grabbing images of death and headlines including "Totally 
Wasted" or "Killer Party," followed by the phrase "one short-lived 
high can become an eternal low."

On Monday, the Melrose Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition launched 
a campaign to provide substance abuse information and prevention. 
Called Melrose ROCKS - for "Rid Our Community of Killer Substances" - 
the campaign addresses the growing problem of OxyContin and heroin 
abuse and is just one effort the community is taking to fight all 
forms of substance abuse.

Police say that much of the city's crime is linked to drug use, and 
abuse can eventually become deadly, as evidenced by a suspected 
drug-related death earlier this month and two others in 2003.

Studies conducted by the Melrose Department of Health since 1997 
determined that alcohol is the most widely-used drug amongst the 
city's youth, but far from the only problematic substance. The 
Department of Health reports that 4 percent of students in Melrose 
High School have used opiates such as heroin and OxyContin, and 
marijuana is another choice drug. Case in point: after two weeks of 
surveillance, police arrested 17-year-old Darien Sanford April 13 on 
charges of possession to distribute a class D substance and 
distributing a class D substance.

"He was a busy kid," said Detective Sgt. Barry Campbell. While 
Campbell said that marijuana "is not to be forgotten," he called 
heroin and OxyContin "the problem drugs," the ones that "lead to 
overdose deaths."

The Melrose ROCKS campaign recognizes the problems that the opiates 
can cause, and is therefore targeting the drugs. Adapted from a 
Malden campaign by the same name, organizers of the ROCKS effort have 
placed a banner across Main Street, and posters will begin appearing 
around the city, near the high school and at playing fields. Kara 
Clemente, the city's substance abuse prevention coordinator and head 
of the ROCKS campaign, said she has been working with local 
pharmacists, who have agreed to attach pamphlets to prescriptions for 
narcotics about the dangers of abusing the drugs, and proper methods 
of disposal - throw them in the trash.

"The point is not to discourage the usage of painkillers," said Ruth 
Clay, director of the Board of Health. "It's to make adults aware 
that their prescription is a desirable commodity."

'The Problem Drugs'

Campbell said that OxyContin first became a problem back in 2000, 
with a rash of drugstore robberies and assailants looking for the 
prescription drug. Soon enough, Campbell said that people ages 16 to 
20 "were dabbling in [OxyContin], not knowing what they were getting 
into. Now it's kind of an epidemic."

The problem moved rather quickly to include heroin as well, a 
development that Campbell remembers noticing for the first time at 
the end of 2001. A local gas station was burglarized, and when police 
made two arrests in the case - of a 16 and a 20-year-old - Campbell 
said police "found out they had robbed the gas station to support a 
heroin habit."

Heroin had existed in the area before, but Campbell said it was 
limited to adults in their 30s and 40s. But with younger people 
getting hooked on the OxyContin, which produces a heroin-like high 
when crushed and snorted, many users began turning to heroin if for 
no reason other than the price - a common 80 milligram OxyContin pill 
runs for $80 on the street. With users popping up to 3 pills a day, 
the cost quickly accumulates. Heroin, on the other hand, costs just 
$6 to $8 per hit.

Both drugs can result in overdoses, and heroin in particular can be deadly.

"When you start pumping it into your veins, that's when you start 
seeing deaths occurring," Campbell said.

That danger hit home for Melrose in late 2002 and early 2003, when 
two teens overdosed on drugs within a matter of months.

"That really shocked the community," Clay said. "It helped point out 
that it could be any of our kids."

"There's no boundary for these drugs," Campbell said. "It's not 
limited to a certain class of people."

As a response, the city and Board of Health really began to look at 
drug prevention efforts, acquiring grants and taking steps that has 
led to the Melrose ROCKS campaign.

Drugs Can Start With Cigarettes

While heroin and OxyContin may make the headlines, health officials 
note that all drugs are interconnected, from alcohol to cigarettes to 
the hard drugs.

"Many children are at the crossroads of becoming successful adults 
and [ending up] in Wyoming Cemetery, or breaking into a house or 
looking into unlocked cars," said Mayor Rob Dolan, who is firmly 
behind the city's drug prevention efforts. He said that prevention 
starts as early as keeping middle school students from smoking 
cigarettes, and Clay was quick to agree.

"It's very well documented that tobacco is a gateway drug," the 
health director said, noting that very few users actually start with 
heroin or OxyContin. Furthermore, Clemente added that the earlier a 
child or teen begins using substances - even tobacco or alcohol - the 
more likely he or she will be to move on to harder drugs in the future.

The goal, Clay said, "is to delay the age of initiation." Besides the 
ROCKS campaign, the city is taking other steps to delay and prevent 
substance abuse, using methods ranging from giving youths healthy 
alternatives to providing education efforts for students and their 
parents. The Common Ground Youth Center and YMCA programs provide 
students with a place to hang out after school.

Earlier this month, the Melrose Health Department, Substance Abuse 
Prevention Coalition, and Melrose Police Department began the 
Citizens Drug Recognition Academy, a four-course program providing 
parents with information to recognize drugs, paraphernalia, and 
physical symptoms and clues of users. The free Wednesday night class, 
held at the Milano Senior Center from 7 to 9 p.m., wraps up next 
week. With about 25 parents attending, Clay and Clemente determined 
the program to be a success, and plan on offering another series of 
classes in the fall if they can obtain funding.

Melrose High School also took a step towards alcohol awareness and 
prevention this year by requiring any student attending the prom to 
sit, with a parent, through a forum about underage drinking. The 
meeting was held on Tuesday evening, and students and parents packed 
Memorial Hall for the program, sponsored by the Substance Abuse 
Coalition and the MHS PTO.

The program was "excellent," said Donna MacDonald, a member of the 
Substance Abuse Coalition. She said that the speaker, Steve Maguire, 
told the audience about the realities of alcohol abuse and also 
"mixed in facts of how important it is for parents to talk to their 
youths and keep open lines of communication."

Dawn Jacobs, a member of the MHS PTO, felt it was "good to have 
parents listening to the same discussion as kids to provoke 
discussion at home. We want them [teens] to stay safe and think about 
the choices they make."

Clemente noted that 214 Melrose residents were admitted to drug 
treatment programs run by the state's Department of Health in 2004, 
and pointed out that the actual number of patients attending rehab 
programs was likely higher. Whether alcohol or drugs, the city has 
recognized that it, like many similar communities, has a substance 
abuse problem. Yet as Dolan said, through programs such as Melrose 
ROCKS and the prom forum, "I'm convinced we can save lives in our city."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman