HEROIN'S GROWING HOLD

WOBURN - There is a spreading epidemic among Woburn's young and most
residents have no idea it is happening. Heroin is spreading through
the streets and high schools of not only Woburn, but also Reading,
Stoneham and Wilmington, throughout Middlesex county.

"They'll all start snorting it, and when that high isn't enough,
they'll start shooting it," said Lt. Bob Rufo of the Woburn Police
Department's drug unit, who is working closely with Wilmington Police
on this problem.

"It's really sad, a big group of kids that are very addicted to it," he said.

It often starts with a free sample. Young adults and teens, from 17
to 23, are offered a free sample of OxyContin, a highly addictive
opiate. OxyContin is difficult to get, and sells for up to $80 a pill
on the street, according to Michael Higgins, the Woburn District
Court Parole Officer. Users are then turned onto heroin, as it's from
the same family of drugs and is much cheaper.

Where a six pack of beer costs on average $5.99 - and cannot be
legally sold to anyone under 21 - the cost of a hit of heroin is less than $4.

The problem is not unique to Woburn. Neighboring towns have seen as
many teens as Woburn addicted to heroin. And with the drugs high
purity, overdoses are common.

As teenagers and young adults are starting to get into heroin,
parents and others are turning a blind eye.

"People don't know, and they don't want to hear about it," Higgins
said. "It's not good news."

"So many people are closed-minded about the fact that kids in high
school aren't smoking marijuana, they're using heroin," Rufo said.

As they watched more and more teens die on their beat, officers like
Rufo and Woburn Lt. Robert Ferullo, realized there was very little
they could do.

"It's very difficult to get a kid into a facility at 8 or 9 or 10 on
a weekend night," Ferullo said, stressing the importance of getting
teenagers a bed. "For any junkie, the next fix could be their last."

Bed Gap

"There's kind of been a gap as to what to do," said Detective Tom
Miller of the Wilmington Police Department. "We've tried to get kids
into programs, but there were never enough beds available when we needed one."

Both Higgins and Vincent Piro, assistant chief probation officer at
the Woburn District Court had also noticed a sudden spike in
heroin-related crimes, but like the police, they could not readily help.

"We thought it was getting out of control," Higgins said. "They kept
coming in and there was nothing we could do."

"There's a shame factor involved," Higgins said. "Parents will go to
their wits' end to help, but they don't want the public to know. When
you have to ask us, you have exhausted your remedies. Our goal was to
get to them before it was too late."

Higgins and Piro were watching as teenagers from good families with
promising futures slipped into this addiction, unable to get the help
they needed.

Recognizing a problem in the works, Higgins turned to legislatures
and grants to cobble together a program that will help those in the
beginning of the addiction. That's when they turned to the HEAT.

Heroin Education Awareness Taskforce is a program that aims to
educate the public and also help teens by getting them into clinics
where they can de-toxify and get the help they need without slipping
back into their addictions. Seeing the same problem in each of the
towns in the district, Higgins and Piro met with the chiefs of police
and elected officials, seeking money to support the program they devised.

After receiving a $400,000 state grant, Higgins and Piro provided
educational funding for the communities through school programs and
pamphlets detailing the facts of a heroin addiction.

Set-Aside

But more important, they secured 10 beds in the Center for Addictive
Behaviors in Danvers, spaces set-aside for the HEAT program,
available anytime they're needed. While 10 beds are not enough for
all the heroin addicts in seven communities, it's a start, confesses Higgins.

Addicts go through detox, without other drugs to help them along
which is not a pretty sight, Higgins said. Next, they are educated
about the drug, and how to stay off it while preparing for the next
phase: long-term treatment at another facility.

"They're not cured in 15 to 30 days" they spend in Danvers, Piro
said. "There is a complete follow-up. Depending on the case, they
could be in treatment for the rest of their lives."

The other, and equally important component of the HEAT program is
education. Presenting schools, teachers, nurses and parents the facts
of heroin addiction, Higgins and Piro hopes to convince residents the
problem is as extensive as it is.

"This is not a DARE approach," Piro said, not wanting to sugarcoat
the message, as many residents will not want to hear it. Piro and
Higgins are more concerned with getting the word out on the street.
Aimed at first-time heroin offenders, this program is not for
hardcore drug addicts; there are other programs to serve "general
population" abusers, Higgins said.

"You can find a bed for an alcoholic or a hard-core heroin addict,
but until now, there was nothing for first-time offenders, beginning
users," Higgins said.

If a first-time offender was given a bed, it was often with the
general population of heroin users, Piro explained. There, the
youngster could learn just as many ways to beat the system as to beat
the habit.

"[Heroin users] are the most manipulative people you've ever dealt
with," Higgins said. "You wouldn't know what hit you. Their only
focus is how to get high."

And HEAT has had an immediate impact as each space at Center for
Addictive Behaviors were filled in the first week, Higgins said.

Rufo said they used some over the weekend, a luxury they did not have before.

"We've got 10 beds at our disposal, and we're just going to try and
start getting these kids the help they need," Rufo said. "Their life
is horrible and they can't help themselves. They have the most
voracious addiction there is, and they wake up every day looking for
their next fix."

"This is a battle we're never going to win, it's a frustrating
battle," Higgins said. "And no one can hide from it."