HEROIN DEATHS MOUNTING

ABINGTON -- After an 18-year-old girl was found dead in her home of
an apparent heroin overdose last weekend, Police Chief David Majenski
went to the house to comfort her family.

It was, he said, a heart-breaking visit.

He said it should also be a wake-up call to everyone in Abington and
surrounding communities.

"You can go to any community, it is not just in Abington, and heroin
can be found among this age group," Majenski said. "We can no longer
put our head in the sand and say it's not around."

The death of the Abington teenager -- whose name was not released --
was the latest apparent overdose in the region as officials try to
find ways to address the problem before more lives are lost.

The Southeast Center for Healthy Communities will meet Thursday from
3 to 5 p.m. at the Mulligan Center of Health Care, 42 West Chestnut
St., Brockton, with representatives from area district attorneys'
offices, police and parents to talk about the problem.

The local support group for parents, Learn to Cope
(www.learn2cope.org), doubled in size in the past two years. A vigil
to remember the dead was held at an Abington church earlier this
month to spotlight the issue. And some communities have hosted forums
to talk about heroin addiction.

"It is something we have to address," said Ed Jacoubs, who
coordinates prevention programs at the Plymouth County district
attorney's office.

Tracy DeSovich, director of the Southeast Center for Healthy
Communities, said the meeting Thursday -- in conjunction with the
state Department of Public Health -- is aimed at looking at who is
affected and what can be done to stop it.

"Right now, with some of the overdoses, it looks like it involves
those almost right out of school -- right in that wedge where it is
harder to reach them," DeSovich said. "We need to get a sense of who
are the youth that are using ...We really believe that to make a
change, you have to have all the people in the room together."

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said people
throughout the area are discovering that addiction can touch their
lives -- or of those they know.

"It can happen anywhere," he said.

Joanne Peterson, founder of Learn to Cope, said the problem in the
area appears to be worsening. There have been nine deaths in eight
weeks in the region, she said.

"We're starting to wonder if the National Guard has to come out and
start patrolling the streets to stop the drugs. People need to get
angry," Peterson said.

Majenski said the death this past weekend appeared to be an overdose,
but authorities are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to
confirm that.

He would not release the name of the victim, where in town she lived
or other circumstances in the case.

However, Majenski said two Abington detectives assigned to the case
are working with state police to try to learn the source of the
drugs. Majenski said if the source can be confirmed, charges would be
lodged in the case.

"Without a doubt, we would prosecute within the parameters of the
law," he said.

Majenski said heroin is touching a growing number of households in
the area as teenagers and young adults experiment with OxyContin, get
addicted and then switch to the cheaper heroin.

"I can't begin to describe how incredibly powerful this drug is," he
said. "You can't just tell these kids that they have to stop, they
have to quit. They can't. We need to educate them before they start.
We need to get them help once they do."

Majenski said heroin addiction is reaching into bedroom communities,
ensnaring youths and young adults who don't realize how dangerous the
drug is.

"You are seeing young adults, teenagers to those in the early-to-mid
and late 20s, who are getting hooked into something they can't seem
to escape from," he said. "It is really frightening."

Parents are also struggling to find help, he said.

"They are good people and their kids are good kids. The kids just
made poor decisions," Majenski said. "As in case after case, you are
seeing parents who are doing everything right and their child gets
hooked. It is a terrible tragedy."