HEROIN USE RISING ON SEACOAST

KITTERY, Maine -- A rash of heroin use and drug dealing arrests
throughout the area this year is an "obvious indication" that drug
is on the rise, say police.

According to Kittery Detective Steve Hamel, that increase is being
caused by a combination of falling heroin prices and an increase in
the use of gateway drugs like OxyContin and methadone.

"In the past year and half we've seen a large increase in heroin
arrests, and heroin use as well," Hamel said Thursday. "The price is
cheap. You can get a bundle of heroin for $50."

And one bundle of heroin is equivalent to 10 bags of the drug, he said.

It's a problem other area departments, like Portsmouth, N.H., share.
Both see decreased cost, with an increase in "introductory" drugs
and a greater variety of ways to use heroin as contributing to its
re-emergence in the area, according Hamel and Portsmouth, N.H.,
police Capt. Janet Champlin.

Hamel, who handles drug investigations for Kittery, said heroin
users often begin as OxyContin users, a prescription painkiller they
start taking for injuries, but end up becoming addicted to. As their
tolerance for OxyContin rises, they find a need for something
stronger and turn to heroin, he said.

"The OxyContin thing has really brought heroin back to life," Hamel said.

Worse, heroin users now abuse it in a greater number of ways, like
smoking, instead of just injecting it, Champlin said. Champlin said
her department is seeing an increase in people frequenting methadone
clinics, taking methadone to deal with heroin addiction.

"We like to think that being proactive and making more arrests is
going to help, however, we don't believe this is a situation were
you can arrest your way out of entirely," Champlin said. "It's going
to require enforcement and prevention efforts."

That will mean introducing better programs in schools, mentoring
programs and stricter sentences for users, she said.

"Until we can do more about the demand, supply is always going to be
there," Champlin said.

Hamel said most of the arrests by Kittery Police involving heroin
have been traced back to Lawrence, Mass., where buyers can get both
large amounts to sell, or small amounts for personal use.

On several occasions, the department has been able to arrest the
suppliers as they come up to Maine to sell.

In November, Cesar Olmedo of Hampton, N.H., was arrested in Kittery
in a sting operation set up by Kittery and York police at a local
convenience store.

According to police, instead of making a $1,000 cash deal for the
heroin authorities found in his possession, Olmedo, 21, was charged
with Class B misdemeanor drug trafficking.

Earlier in November, Vincent Brown, 37, of Mattapan, Mass., a
convicted felon and registered sex offender, allegedly swallowed two
baggies of heroin containing six hits before his arrest, but told
police what he had and was taken to the hospital where he spent four
hours waiting for the evidence to be cleared from his system before
being turned back over to police.

Brown was arrested on charges of failure to stop for a police
officer, receiving stolen property and operating without a license.

In Portsmouth, at a heroin related party on Oct. 31, 36-year-old
Anthony Fosher died after an alleged heroin overdose. The Portsmouth
Police Department is still waiting on a toxicology report to confirm
the cause of death, said Champlin.

Involved in that party were several others, including two mothers
now charged with endangering their children for bringing them to a
party where heroin was allegedly being snorted.

Tammy Wylie, 26, no address, is charged with bringing her 1-year-old
child to a room at a local motel on the night that Fosher died.
Co-defendant Jennifer Germana, 23, of 395 Main St. in Somersworth is
also charged with endangerment for allegedly having her 22-month-old
and 2-year-old at the same party.

On Nov. 3, Chadrick Provencher, 22, of Dover was arrested by Dover
police and charged with felony sale of a controlled narcotic drug,
heroin. He was held on $7,500 cash bail and arraigned on Nov. 4.

The future doesn't look good either, added Hamel.

"It's gonna get worse before it gets better," he said. "This problem
is going to escalate... If you go look at the clinics and you see
the amount of people going in and out of there in a day, this
problem is only going to get worse."