GAIN FOOTHOLD IN SUBURBS

Crack cocaine filters into Fall River

Suburban police report growing numbers of arrests involving illegal
narcotics, including heroin, now cheaper and purer than ever before.

Growing numbers of suburban residents also are seeking treatment for
addictions to these drugs, particularly heroin.

And while alcohol and marijuana remain the substances most abused by
youngsters, school administrators say they also are seeing more drugs in
schools.

"The idea that all drug use is in the inner city just does not seem to be
the case," said Brian Silvester, southeast regional manager for the state
Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.

In 1998, at least 1,616 admissions to substance abuse treatment programs in
the state came from SouthCoast suburban towns, according to the Bureau of
Substance Abuse Services. While the bulk of those people cited alcohol as an
addiction, a high number also used other narcotics, including 426 marijuana,
277 cocaine, 79 crack, 402 heroin and 311 IV drugs.

The percentage of people seeking treatment who cited heroin as an addiction,
exceeded the state average in Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion, Rochester,
Somerset and Swansea.

The number of admissions for heroin addictions came close to doubling
between 1997 and 1998 in Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion, Mattapoisett,
Rochester, Somerset and Wareham.

"We all have problems," said New Bedford Police Lt. Melvin Wotton. "There's
a not a community around here untouched by drugs."

Regional school administrators report increasing use of marijuana by
students, but guidance and substance abuse councilors also note that more
students appear to be aware of heroin, cocaine and designer drugs, such as
ecstasy.

Peter Abraham, guidance director for Freetown-Lakeville's Apponequet
Regional High School, believes there is "at least as much, if not more" drug
use among high school students today than 10 years ago. Although he doesn't
sense an increase in the use of harder drugs like heroin, drugs are "very
accessible," he said.

"Granted there's more (anti-drug) education in schools and on TV -- and
certain kids are receptive. The effort is there, but the message doesn't
seem to be reaching enough kids," Mr. Abraham said. "It's just my own
perception, but I think more and more kids are starting this at the middle
school age."

Two years ago, five seventh and eighth graders at Wareham Middle School were
hospitalized after taking LSD, and a 19-year-old high school dropout was
later found guilty of supplying the drugs.

"Anybody who tells you their school does not have a problem, you know right
off the bat that they are not dealing with reality," said Ellen Banach, vice
president of Southcoast Hospitals Group Systems Integration.

Ms. Banach has helped coordinate an outreach effort by the hospital to
identify and address youth issues. High school students participating in the
focus group interviews said drug and alcohol use were common. They cited
stress and pressure as a major motivating factor.

Many suburban users show up on city streets buying or selling drugs, police
say.

Lt. Wotton estimates that at least 30 percent of the people charged with
drug-related offenses by his department have come into New Bedford from the
suburbs.

He notes his department also has participated in drug raids recently in
Fairhaven, Dartmouth and Acushnet.

"To say they don't have a problem there is absurd," he said citing one bust
last November involving 774 bags of heroin in Dartmouth. Mark Sadeck, 28,
and Lee Lydon, 25, each were charged with possession with intent to
distribute and consipracy after police seized the heroin and $598 in cash
from a house at 797 Tucker Lane, Lt. Wotton said.

Former addicts say the suburbs traditionally have been the place to buy
drugs that have not been diluted for street sales.

"You have some money and you want to buy in quantity, you go to Dartmouth,
Fairhaven, Freetown," said one recovering heroin user. "You buy right from
some guy in his nice house."

A shift in the image of heroin from something injected by a junkie with a
needle to a drug used by glamorous people like actor Robert Downey Jr.,
models and musicians has made the drug more socially acceptable to middle
class users, says Bristol County District Attorney Paul Walsh.

The result has been more occasional, recreational users in the suburbs
turning to heroin, instead of cocaine or marijuana, he says.

"It's still a city problem," he says, "but we're seeing heroin float out to
the suburbs."

Heroin has made a comeback in Wareham during the past two to three years, in
part because its purity is now so high it can be snorted or smoked and not
just injected, says Wareham Police Det. Kevin Walsh. Crack and powder
cocaine also remains popular, particularly among 16- to 25-year-olds, while
marijuana is in with those 13 to 20. Heroin ranks high with the 30- to
50-year-old set, he says.

"But that age is decreasing," Det. Walsh warns, echoing other law
enforcement officials around the region, "because heroin is becoming more
chic. The purity makes it easy to ingest in different ways too."

In Westport, drug arrests rose from 67 in 1997 to 81 last year, including 32
arrests for possession of marijuana, 13 for possession of cocaine, 6 for
possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and 15 for possession of
ecstasy and other designer drugs. Police Chief Michael R. Healy noted a
trend toward heroin and designer drugs.

Last year, police found a major drug manufacturing lab in Westport turning
out ecstasy, a so-called designer drug.

"Heroin was popular in the 1970s and early 1980s, then it seemed to die
down," Chief Healy said. "It's coming back. Cocaine was a big drug in the
mid 1990s, but because of the cost factor of cocaine, people are turning to
heroin."

On a decline five years ago, drug use is now back up to what it was a decade
ago, according to Freetown Police Chief Carleton Abbott, whose department
makes an average of three to four drug-arrests a month.

"Heroin is more visible, maybe because of the trend to snort it," he said.
"It may be more socially acceptable when people aren't invading their bodies
with a needle."

Suburban police cite Fall River, New Bedford and Providence as the source of
drugs flowing into their towns.

"I don't want to stigmatize those cities, but obviously this is coming in,"
said Freetown's Chief Abbott.

Similarly, Lakeville's acting Police Chief Mark Sorel said most of his
department's drug arrests involve people passing through the town, which
lies close to the SouthCoast cities, as well as Taunton and Brockton.

While he has seen no evidence of an increase in drug use or a switch to
heroin, the department "still has a steady flow" of drug arrests, most of
which come during motor vehicle stops.

"Of the 399 arrests we made last year, probably 50 or so were for drugs --
usually marijuana or cocaine," Chief Sorel said. "Alcohol is a bigger
problem for us; we had 134 OUI arrests last year. That's what we see."

In Dartmouth, police said they are surprised they're not seeing more heroin.
Instead, marijuana accounts for the lion's share of drug charges filed in
the town. In 1996, out of 61 drug cases resulting in arrests, four involved
heroin. The numbers last year were similar, with just four heroin-related
arrests.

Fairhaven police last year handled a dozen narcotics investigations, a
couple more than in 1997, but already this year they have been involved in
six cases. Most involve heroin.

Heroin seems to be "springing back up, said Sgt. Arthur J. Shepard, of the
town's detective squad, "probably because there is so much of it around and
its is cheap."

In Marion, police made three arrests for narcotics-related violations in
1998, and six in 1997. Police Chief Brian Scott attributed the small,
affluent seaside town's low number of arrests for drug and alcohol-related
offenses to its small size, in both population and square mileage.

"I'm not about to suggest we don't have a drug problem. But I can't say I've
seen an alarming increase during the past four or five years," he said.

Drug trafficking tends to be obvious in a small town with fewer areas for
people to congregate. Still, the community's exclusivity might contribute to
limits on police information about drug use, he said, noting much of the
drug problem remains hidden from view.

"We see the worst cases. To say we are even touching the tip of the iceberg
would be incorrect."

If a person were to overdose on drugs or alcohol, police might not know
about it if the victim was taken out of town, he said.

In Rochester, police made 20 arrests for drug violations in 1998, up from 10
the previous year. Police Sgt. James Wassmouth attributed the rise to
increased enforcement. But if all offenses that police suspected were
related to drug and alcohol abuse were documented, he said, the numbers
might be even higher.

Most of the 16 arrests for drug violations in Mattapoiset last year were for
marijuana use, Lt. Edwin Pina said.

"But we are seeing more cocaine today," said the lieutenant, who served on
the Bristol County Drug Task Force during the 1980s. "You find when you stop
a car they sometimes carry vials of crack. People are graduating."

Staff writers Rachel Thomas, Mary-Jo Curtis, John Doherty, Manuela
DeCosta-Fernandez and Ann Saita contributed to this report.