DILAUDID USE `STILL A MAJOR PROBLEM' FOR PICTOU'S YOUTH

With some of its main dealers behind bars or before the courts, a powerful
painkiller has loosened its stranglehold on Pictou County youth.

Parents were in a panic six months ago over the high numbers of teens
abusing Dilaudid - some turning to crime to buy it.

"I've been on chases, many chases, where people went at seven in the morning
to break into people's homes," recalls Const. Danny Walsh of the Trenton
Police, "to get anything, from a toaster to a microwave, to go sell it to
one of the pushers to get a couple of pills, to get their fix.

"I've been involved where local addicts have literally gone and done armed
robberies in broad daylight, no mask on, no consequences, no thought of
consequences."

He has also picked up vomit-covered users from the floor, unable to move
from the fetal position.

By September 1999, the northern Nova Scotian county of roughly 50,000 had
the province's highest rate of youth on probation per capita.

Not all crimes were drug-related, but doctors and police had noticed a huge
Dilaudid influx there.

Commonly used to treat severe pain, particularly in terminal cancer
patients, Dilaudid or "dillies" offer a five-hour high and cost $10 to $15
on the street.

The drug is eight times stronger than morphine and usually comes in pill
form.

Police now say the situation in Pictou County has stabilized after a number
of drug-related arrests.

New Glasgow probation officer Frank MacArthur says judges are coming down
harder on Dilaudid users, such as the 19-year-old who got two years' federal
jail time recently for breaching two court-ordered conditions.

The Trenton man had been on probation for possessing Dilaudid and once
nearly died of an overdose.

"It's very overpowering, and it's taken him over completely," said his
mother, who spoke to The Daily News on condition of anonymity.

"It appears that it's stronger than his will. He's been in trouble several
times with the law because of it. He's been away, often for five or six
months at a time and even a year, and still it seems to have this hold on
him."

Pictou East MLA Jim DeWolfe has said he's not sure the problem was ever as
bad as some people think, but others are clearly taking no chances.

"I don't want the parties involved to even know that we stock the drug or
don't stock it," an unnamed Pictou County pharmacist said Friday.

"You're just leaving yourself open for a knock on the head some night."

Many drugstores in the area, as well as in other parts of Nova Scotia, had
yanked the drug from shelves after a rash of attempted break-ins.

Sources of Dilaudid have largely dried up, but MacArthur says at least one
person is still sneaking in methadone, a heroin substitute, from a Halifax
clinic.

Methadone use is legal for opiate addicts. A spokeswoman for the
provincially run clinic said some addicts are allowed to take a three-day
supply of methadone home, but they're strictly monitored.

Walsh plans to address the Liberal caucus on July 12 with his concerns about
Dilaudid and other illicit drug use by Pictou County teens.

Talks at local schools seem to have helped, but not enough.

"It's still a major problem in this community, a very major problem,"
MacArthur says.