Pubdate: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 Source: Herald News, The (Fall River, MA) Copyright: 2009 The Herald News Contact: http://www.heraldnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3604 Author: Grant Welker Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) REPORT: STATE NEEDS TO DO MORE TO CURB ADDICTION - FALL The opiate problem isn't new in Fall River, where in 2002 police seized 3 pounds of heroin valued at $1.2 million following an eight-month investigation. Massachusetts has long had an opiate problem, too, but a 70-page report released last month from the state OxyContin and Heroin Commission refocused attention on the issue. The state, the report said, is "in the midst of a serious and dangerous epidemic" of soaring heroin and opiate use, while support for treatment programs remains insufficient. The number of deaths these addictions cause -- more than 3,200 in Massachusetts from 2002 to 2007 -- far exceeds causes of death that receive far more attention, the report said. "If the H1N1 virus killed 3,000 people in a five-year period in Massachusetts, the crisis would be center stage," it said. Over the same period, the number of Bay State soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq was 78. A 2008 report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said heroin in Massachusetts is cheap and "readily available," and that abuse is "widespread." OxyContin is "extremely popular" and often a gateway drug to heroin, it said. Rhode Island has a similar problem with heroin, which "can be purchased in nearly every town and city," the report said. Ease of access is a significant contributor. Nationally, 60 percent of pain relievers used for non-medical reasons are given free by relatives or friends, a report cited by the commission said. In Massachusetts, the number of prescriptions for opiates more than doubled from 1996 to 2007. One Cape Cod doctor illustrates that problem. According to the state, Michael Brown prescribed nearly one-third of all OxyContin prescriptions statewide -- almost 290,000 tablets in 2004 alone. In Fall River, near a New York-Providence-Boston drug route, heroin is also cheap. One OxyContin pill, depending on the size, can sell for $80 to $150, according to the Bristol County district attorney's office. A bag of heroin is somewhere between $3 and $10. Opiate abuse cases are common partly because Massachusetts lags in devoting funding to prevention, treatment and research, according to a report released in May by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. For every $100 the state spends on drug addiction, only $1.45 goes toward prevention, treatment and research. Massachusetts ranks in the lower third of all states, at nearly half the average of $2.38 and well behind Connecticut, the leader at $10.39. The state commission report made 20 broad recommendations, including raising awareness to children at a young age of the dangers of drugs, overhauling the state's prescription-monitoring program to ensure patients aren't getting illegal prescriptions, and diverting addicts from jail sentences to treatment programs. It said prescriptions for controlled substances should be written on official state prescription pads with tamper-resistant features, and hospitals should be forced to report to parents if their child suffers an overdose. FIXING THE PROBLEM Fall River is in the second year of a federally funded three-year opiate prevention program that provides education and outreach for opiate addicts, their families and friends, and health care providers. Only 12 cities statewide were given money to adopt the program. With $100,000 in funding each of the three years, the program, Power 2 Save Lives, works with Seven Hills Behavioral Health to talk to patients monthly at SSTAR and Steppingstone, and partners with the BOLD Coalition. The program is also seeking to eliminate barriers to contacting emergency responders during an overdose by supporting a bill in the state Senate that protects overdose victims and witnesses from drug possession charges. Many witnesses to drug overdoses don't call 911 for fear of police involvement, the 911 Good Samaritan Campaign says. The state commission's report has "moved the ball a little bit" in the fight for addiction services reform, said Sen. Steven Tolman, a Boston Democrat who chaired the commission. Tolman also sponsored the Good Samaritan bill. Since the report was released, the state has hired someone whose sole duty is to re-establish a prescription-monitoring program, Tolman said. The senator has met with companies working on tamper-proof prescription forms and a pill that blocks brain receptors that react to heroin. Next month, he'll meet with Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray to discuss opiate addiction. Local service providers and those who have faced opiate addiction firsthand largely agreed with the commission's recommendations and emphasized more drug education in schools, better monitoring by parents, closer tracking of illegal prescriptions and easier access to treatment. "Everything in schools is geared on getting better test grades, and health is out the window," said Nancy Paull, the chief executive officer of Stanley Street Treatment and Resources, or SSTAR. Drug danger is "not being taught because it can't be measured by MCAS," she said. "That's a huge mistake." Karen Fischer, staff director for the BOLD Coalition, a Fall River substance abuse prevention organization, estimates that only one in 10 addicts that need treatment are receiving it. And keeping youngsters from picking up the habit is especially important. Someone who uses a substance before turning 15 has a 45 percent chance of becoming addicted to that or another drug, she said. Someone who uses a substance at age 21 or older has less than a 5 percent chance. That shows how important early prevention is, Fisher said. "There has to be zero tolerance." Dee Bettencourt, whose 20-year-old son was killed in a drug deal, said parents should be constantly looking for signs that their children could be doing drugs and to question them if things don't seem right. If she could go back in time, she said, she would have been more forceful in getting her son help. Liisa Bennett, whose son has struggled with an addiction since receiving a painkiller prescription at age 15, said creating treatment programs in jail would go a long way toward ensuring that addicts don't relapse once they are released. But if only a few of the commission's recommendations are put into place, all the work invested in the report will do little, Bennett said. "If it's not all enacted, we'll never get a hold of this epidemic," she said. "I have a hard time digesting that this is such a bad thing and people aren't outraged all around, whether they're directly impacted or not." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D