MENDHAM CONFERENCE ADDRESSES DRUG ISSUES

About 75 representatives of law enforcement, education, drug rehabilitation
facilities and some parents of young drug addicts held a second summit
yesterday in Mendham to discuss heroin addiction and other substance abuse
problems.

"This was to be our second, and last, summit, but those present unanimously
agreed the program should continue," said the Rev. Joseph Hennen, director
of the Daytop Village rehabilitation facility, host of the two-hour
conference. The first summit was held in October 1998.

Yesterday's program included presentations by the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office and the parents of
two former heroin addicts who brought good news to the gathering.

"Their message was that treatment can and does work," Hennen said after the
session, explaining that the parents reported their children are employed
in good jobs or are attending college following rehabilitation.

Assemblyman Anthony Bucco {R-Morris} spoke about proposed legislation to
establish a specialized "drug court" where judges could focus on
identifying and curing addiction as an underlying cause of other crimes.
Only Camden, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties have such a system in
place, Bucco told the gathering.

Hennen said another consensus voiced at the meeting was that parents must
be educated about drug addiction.

"We heard about recent studies in which 56 percent of the parents polled
were most concerned about their children using crack cocaine and that only
10 percent expressed concern about the abuse of heroin, marijuana and other
drugs. It shows how thinking is behind the times," Hennen said.

"The use of crack cocaine today is almost negligible, while the abuse of
so-called club drugs like Ecstasy and Special K continues to grow among
juveniles," he said, adding that future conferences will be centered on
that topic.

According to Hennen, plans will be made to hold similar conferences on a
quarterly basis. "We all agreed it was a wonderful means for those from
different parts of the system to get together and communicate with each
other. No one part of the system is capable of correcting the problem of
addiction," he said.