HEROIN PRICE DOWN, POTENCY UP, POLICE SAY

Area clinics find methadone clients need longer treatments.

Police officers and health care workers say the city's heroin use has
undergone a transformation over the years: The potency of the drug has
skyrocketed, creating methadone clients needing longer treatments. At the
same time, the price of the drug has gone down, rendering it more accessible
to young users.

"The price is down and the purity is way up," said Lt. John Chepren, who has
worked in the police department's Vice and Intelligence Unit for 15 years.

Detectives recall a time several decades ago when a bag of heroin contained
about 10 percent of the drug. "The past few years, it's been right in that
area of 80 to 90 percent, consistently. Most of that heroin is coming
directly out of New York and Providence into this area," Chepren said.

Robert Peladeau, a major crimes police captain who retired last month,
attributed a recent decline in housebreaks to the increased potency of the
drug. His theory is that drug users steal less now because they need fewer
bags to satisfy their habit.

"You don't have to have to shoot up as many bags as you did back then . . .
so you don't have to steal as much," he said in an interview before his
retirement. "We're seeing - especially since 1990 - housebreaks have just
gone down."

The number of housebreaks last year was 700, down from 2,000 in the late
1980s.

Detectives also say that while the drug has gotten stronger, they have seen
overall heroin use decline because some of the city's open air drug markets
have been shut down. And those who work at methadone clinics say more and
more heroin addicts have been seeking treatment: the city's two clinics
serve more than four times as many clients as they did two years ago.

Two years ago, the Lifeline Clinic at St. Anne's Hospital served 125
methadone users daily as the city's only clinic. Since then, the Center for
Health and Human Services opened its Front Street clinic, and the two now
serve more than 600 clients.

But because of the stronger drug, more clients require longer treatments,
said Lisa Garcia, program director of the Lifeline Clinic. "People are just
getting hooked on it more quickly," she said, adding that treatment can last
anywhere from a year and a half to five years.

And because the price has gone down, the drug is more accessible to
children, some as young as 11 and 12, she said.

Health care workers are assuring heroin addicts that they will continue to
receive daily methadone treatments as one of the city's clinics negotiates a
sale to a for-profit company.

Habit Management, a for-profit, Boston-based group, is preparing to purchase
the Front Street clinic, prompting the state Department of Public Health to
take away its grant funding and give it to the hospital instead. That means
low-income clients may have to switch to the hospital or the center's other
clinic in New Bedford to continue receiving subsidies, said Paul Quinn, the
hospital's vice president of physician development and outpatient services.

While the sale isn't expected to dramatically disrupt treatment, it comes as
the need for service continues to increase and as the very potent, street
heroin becomes the norm.

Health care workers at St. Anne's are scrambling to accommodate the 50 new
clients who will be transferred from Front Street. They are extending their
hours and expanding their staff to make sure everyone is taken care of
during the transition.

"We're doing it gradually so it's not such a mess," she said. "We want to
make sure everyone's accounted for."

"Addiction is a whole change of lifestyle, you don't just come here for your
dose and think you can go back out and hang out with your buddies. With most
clients, it's a lifetime disease."