HEROIN TREATMENT - DENTON COUNTY TAKES A STAND

Sadly, a so-called mini heroin epidemic continues to devastate
suburban, middle-class families in North Texas. With another 15 fatal
overdoses by young people in the last year alone - along with a 300
percent increase in the number of heroin addicts in Dallas -
frustration continues to mount.

Yet before frustration gives way to despair, North Texans should
evaluate past efforts and make new ones. Instead of relaxing a drug
education campaign among the region's young people, they must
reinforce it. Simultaneously, North Texans should support enhanced
treatment opportunities along with law enforcement
initiatives.

While North Texas and the state of Maryland have been identified as
one of two mini-heroin epidemic sites, the fact remains that increased
heroin use is part of a national trend. Only 2 percent of U.S.
teenagers use the potentially deadly drug. Yet as Lori Stahl and
Kendall Anderson of The Dallas Morning News point out, the number of
high school seniors taking heroin increased by 100 percent between
1990 and 1996.

Here are some initiatives that should be undertaken or
reinforced:

* Treatment should be enhanced at the local level. The Denton County
Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse is leading the way by crafting a
plan to offer long-term residential treatment to children who need it.
Funding the program through a proposed sales tax on alcohol and
tobacco makes sense.

* The state Legislature should pass a bill requiring overdoses be
reported. If communities are to get a handle on the problem, they need
information. Physicians have noted increasing numbers of teens
involved in drugs, but no database exists.

* Schools should make expanded substance abuse counseling available.
Experts must be on hand to advise parents on treatment options in the
community.

* Teachers must be trained to spot substance abuse problems. Denton
school personnel are being trained to do that. Other school districts
should follow suit immediately. The argument that teachers already
have their hands full is unacceptable when the consequences of
indifference include death.

There are ways to confront the deadly heroin epidemic - doing a better
job of educating young people about the dangers of drug abuse,
identifying drug abuse once it has begun, and providing the necessary
treatment to those who want it. But it will take a sustained community
effort over time instead of a quick fix.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry