HEROIN LURE IS GROWING

This might be the stereotype of a heroin addict: a middle-aged, longtime
drug user with track marks and a vacant expression.

This is the reality on the streets of Boston: a teenage user who has never
shot any drug, lured to snort heroin that has steadily become cheaper,
purer, and more potent over recent years - and no less addictive.

It's not news that heroin has taken its place with marijuana and crack
cocaine as a street drug of choice, meaning the fight against the deadly
drug is more important than ever. Tomorrow, an ambitious program to address
the growing popularity of the drug will be unveiled at the South Boston
Neighborhood House on H Street, in one of the neighborhoods most harmed by
heroin.

"The healthy stigma associated with heroin really isn't there anymore," said
Michael Kineavy, director of the Office of Neighborhood Services. "We have a
lot of young people who don't have that fear of heroin addiction that was
there a few years ago. I don't think they can comprehend the addictive
powers of heroin."

The three-part program is aimed at the growing community of younger users as
well as their parents. An hourlong video, to begin airing on the city's
public-access cable channel next week, will highlight the dangers of heroin
addiction. In addition, a local communications firm, Holland Mark Edmund
Ingalls, produced a campaign free of charge to warn parents of the danger
signs of addiction and where to turn for help.

Finally, $1 million in federal and state funds is to be allocated to provide
more space in residential care for addicts trying to kick the habit.

The program debuts at a precarious time for drug treatment in South Boston.
The South Boston courthouse, which has been the command post for many of the
neighborhood's treatment efforts, is scheduled to close for renovation next
year, prompting fears already that some of the people it serves will
disappear from treatment.

Of course, the heroin problem is not limited to South Boston. The director
of the city's public health commission, John Auerbach, rates the
neighborhoods with the most pressing heroin problems in this order:
Dorchester, South Boston, Roxbury, the South End, and East Boston.

"That's not to say it's not in other neighborhoods," Auerbach said. "Those
are the ones we're seeing the most in."

One of the big problems, Auerbach said, is the plunging price of the drug.

"A bag of heroin that will get a couple of people high is less expensive
than a six-pack. It's not a lot of heroin, but it's enough.

"The second thing we know is that the purity level of heroin has risen over
the past few years. The heroin being sold now is so pure that you don't need
to shoot it in your arm."

Being free of the need to inject the drug has made heroin more attractive to
a lot of people, who can use the drug with less of the stigma historically
associated with it.

"Teens like the idea of snorting for a couple reasons," Auerbach said. "They
might be worried about [transmission of HIV]. And they don't think of it as
the same kind of addictive drug. It gets them hooked by what seems to be a
less pernicious way of getting high."

Analysts say it's hard to tell whether the city's heroin problem is
worsening. But no one seems to think it's getting better. Emergency workers
and police say there has been an uptick in non-fatal calls, as well as
overdoses in which no aid is called in. While the high-profile rash of fatal
overdoses of a few years ago may have peaked, heroin's lure remains strong.

"It's like a tornado just ripping through families," Kineavy said. "If
someone is using heroin in the household, it's a problem that's there every
day."