ARLINGTON - Arlington's chief of police wasn't in his office on Wednesday, June 15. Instead, he was in Washington D.C.

Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan was testifying before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at a hearing on alternative approaches to combating the opioid addiction crisis. He was speaking as a representative of the Police-Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative (PAARI), sharing his experiences fighting heroin and other drugs in Arlington with an approach emphasizing getting opioid users into treatment.

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Arlington - Eastern Massachusetts outpaces much of the nation in heroin-fueled emergency room visits and admissions to state treatment programs for painkiller addictions, according to two recent federal reports on substance abuse.

And while overdoses haven't necessarily spiked in Arlington, those findings came as no surprise to local paramedics, police and medical professionals, who say that abuse of heroin and prescription drugs such as OxyContin continues to be elevated and problematic in the community.

"I think that [the rate of drug overdoses in Arlington] remains steady," Police Captain Richard Flynn said this week. "People out there are, whether it be OxyCodone, whether it be heroin, it seems there's always that market out there for whatever the drug of choice may very well be."

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Arlington - Members of the Student Advisory Council called for town and school officials to better address drug and alcohol problems at the high school.

Seniors Kostya Gorbunov and Sean Conroy attended the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday to request the board's help in tackling issues they found most lacking -- from substance abuse to underpaid teachers to equality between sports teams. However, they mainly focused on drugs and alcohol.

"Our basic suggestion is for improvement and a lot of changes in school programs," Gorbunov said. "Anyone who wishes to participate in drug use [in Arlington] can."

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Klonopin may be a new name for most Arlingtonians, but, according to police and doctors, the prescription anti-anxiety drug, has become an alternative to alcohol for teens.

Unlike alcohol, which is easily detected on a person's breath, Klonopin (also called K-Pins) is odorless.

"The schools have been very effective in tackling the problems of the use of alcohol at school functions," said Police Chief Fred Ryan. "What we're learning is that to counter that effectiveness, kids are using substances like Klonopin to intoxicate themselves. It's not as easily detectable." In addition to Klonopin, police confiscated Ativan, Oxycontin, Valium, Xanax, Librium, Vicodin and marijuana from a 16-year-old, who they arrested and charged with possession of Class D and E drugs with the intent to distribute last Thursday.

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Whenever we face a tragedy like the suicide of a teenager, those left behind wonder if the unthinkable act could have been prevented. In this case, a 17-year-old Arlington High School student shot himself after he took Klonopin, which may have distorted his mind. Two other students were also hospitalized last week after reportedly taking the drug. In times like these, parents may feel powerless and worried for their children. But there are things we can do. As parents, we can try to steer our children in the right direction. As adults, we can be examples for teens. And as a community, we can act.

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Voters in Anne Paulsen's legislative district will have their say on medical marijuana in November.

The advisory question would ask the district's legislators to support legislation to allow marijuana use for chronically ill patients, asking should the senator or representative "vote in favor of legislation that would allow seriously ill patients, with their doctor's written recommendation, to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal medical use." According to Steve Epstein of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, helping the sick should take priority over punishing pot smokers. "We want people who have a doctor's recommendation to use (marijuana) as a medication," said Epstein. "We hope the legislature sees the wisdom of adopting a law that's similar to ones in California, Washington state, Maine, Colorado." This is only the third district in the state targeted for the medical marijuana question. Over the past three years, 52 districts have passed advisory questions supportive of decriminalizing marijuana. Epstein said the intent is to keep the issue alive and gather enough campaign funding for a statewide question campaign.

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