TOWNSEND UNVEILS TV ADS AIMED AT CURBING HEROIN USE

Commercials are part of a state effort to prevent drug abuse

The television set flickers, slowly coming to life. Filling the screen is
the image of teen-agers laughing and dancing. The camera pans the room,
stopping at the lifeless body of a teen-age girl lying on a bed with a
glassy look on her face. Suddenly, the picture changes to a cartoon, a
smiley face and the words "Happy Heroin Hints."

An authoritative male voice warns of the dangers of heroin use: "Violent
fits of vomiting are commonplace. Keep a bucket handy. Heroin -- Dying's
the easy part."

Images of death flash by viewers. A heart monitor spells out the word
heroin in blue letters to the sound of an erratic heartbeat. The heart
stops and the screen goes blank.

Silence fills the room in Westminster Senior Activity Center where the
commercials were shown yesterday. The commercials, produced by Partnership
for a Drug-Free America, will air on cable television stations in Maryland.

About 70 people gathered yesterday to view the commercials and to discuss
the state's sweeping plan to prevent heroin use, a problem that has spread
recently to Maryland's suburbs and rural areas.

But after the public service announcements aired, no one uttered a word. It
seemed the commercials, unveiled by Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend as
part of a 19-point program to curb heroin use, said more than any
well-rehearsed speech could.

"Ads help to change attitudes," Townsend said, breaking the silence. "They
are key to getting kids to understand that heroin can kill you, and that if
it doesn't kill you, it will destroy your life."

That Townsend decided to deliver this message in Carroll County was no
accident. The county, once thought to be immune to the drug problems that
have historically ravaged Baltimore's inner-city neighborhoods, has had
three heroin overdose deaths this year. As recently as 1996, there were none.

Carroll is not alone. Since 1990, the number of deaths in Maryland from
heroin overdoses has more than doubled, with the most dramatic increases
occurring outside Baltimore.

In Harford and Carroll counties, the number of heroin users in treatment
has more than doubled in the past three years. In Anne Arundel and Howard
counties, the number has increased by more than 40 percent. Many new
addicts are not old enough to vote.

A major reason for the increase in heroin use, law enforcement officials
said, is that the drug is being snorted instead of injected. The stigma of
the needle is removed, as are risks of exposure to hepatitis or the virus
that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

"There's a fallacy, especially among young people, that heroin is not
lethal or addictive if it's not injected," said Lt. Leonard Armstrong,
commander of the Westminster state police barracks.

For heroin users, the desired effect of the drug includes a slowing of
breathing. For most overdose victims, the heroin attacks the part of the
brain that controls the respiratory system, causing breathing to stop.

Under Townsend's strategy, the fight against heroin will be waged on
several fronts, including enforcement, education and drug monitoring. Her
program -- dubbed DEWS, an acronym for Drug Early Warning System -- will go
into effect July 1.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski