HEROIN'S LOW COST MAY ATTRACT YOUNGER USERS

Police See Younger Dealers And Younger Customers

A bag of heroin costs less than a pack of cigarettes, and that's one
of the main reasons more local teenagers are trying the narcotic,
experts say.

Another reason might be that local drug dealers aren't much older than
their teenage customers, according to police.

Four suspected drug dealers arrested this month range in age from 19
to 26. And police believe they have been selling heroin to 17-, 18-
and 19-year-olds, Kingston police Chief Donald Briggs said.

Those four arrests followed the arrest of Luis Peguro-Tejada, 35, of
Lawrence, Mass., described by police as "a major supplier" to Southern
New Hampshire. He is being held on $250,000 cash for four counts of
trafficking a Class A drug and four counts of trafficking a Class A
drug in a school zone. More than $46,000 in heroin and cash were found
in his apartment.

Matthew Cunningham, 21, of Plaistow, Philip Voss, 22, of Plaistow,
Joseph Devellis, 26, of Sandown and Brystal Razo, 19, of Derry all
face drug possession and sale charges. A fifth suspected dealer has
not been arrested.

Cunningham and Razo had prior drug possession charges. All four
suspects either attended Timberlane Regional High School or now live
in Plaistow.

Tim Lena, Timberlane's student assistance program counselor, said
there are more students using heroin this year than there were last
year. He knows because he asks them point blank.

"I wouldn't say it's a large percentage of the kids that I deal with,
but it's a significant number," he said. "Not too many injectables,
they are snorting it."

But heroin use among teenagers isn't just a Timberlane
problem.

Statewide, there have been 65 confirmed drug overdoses this year, and
12 of them were from heroin, according to Kim Fallon of the state
medical examiner's office.

In 2006, there were 138 drug overdoses, and just seven were confirmed
to involve heroin. That's 5 percent versus 18 percent this year.

Newton, a town of under 5,000, has had five fatal overdoses in the
past 18 months, according to police Chief Larry Streeter. Many of
those were heroin overdoses. The youngest victim - 18-year-old Allain
Carrier - died from an opiate overdose, Streeter said.

State and local drug experts say heroin is a problem, but it's not the
most popular drug out there for teenagers.

Joe Harding, director of the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services at
the state Department of Health and Human Services, ranks heroin and
opiate use fourth on the list of drugs most often abused by teens. It
ranks behind alcohol, marijuana and cocaine, he said.

Heroin is a drug students may start using before trying something like
cocaine, he said. That's because the odium about heroin is changing.

"Their friends may say it's harmless (if it's snorted) and it's really
not," Harding said. "That's not seen or perceived as being as harmful
as injecting the drug. (Injecting is) more in line with the
perception, bottom of the barrel and the great stigma associated with
it."

Plaistow Sgt. Patrick Caggiano, who led the two-month investigation
that resulted in the five arrests, said heroin use is tied directly to
availability.

If the drug is around for someone to try it once, they're going to
want to do it again.

The four suspected dealers arrested - and the fifth still out there -
were significant players in the local drug scene.

"They weren't small-time," Caggiano said.

Throughout his investigation, those five names came up "frequently,"
he said. That began to give police a picture of the age of the heroin
suppliers and their customers.

"It's an identifiable network or core group that we can focus on,"
Caggiano said.

The U.S. Department of Drug Enforcement and the Timberlane/Sanborn
Coalition for Drug-Free Schools have their own theory on why teenagers
start taking heroin. It's a cheaper alternative for teens who become
addicted to prescription medications.

"If you become addicted to OxyContin and you can't afford to buy
anymore or can't find a place to steal anymore, then what do you do?
You gravitate toward heroin," coalition board member Dick Gerrish said.

DEA spokesman Tony Pettigrew concurred. He said a bag of heroin costs
between $4 and $10, depending on the purity. The purer it is, the less
a person needs to get high. An 80 milligram pill of OxyContin costs
between $40 and $80 on the street, he said. He said a single bag of
heroin is enough to make someone high.

"The main drug of concern that you see in Massachusetts and Southern
New Hampshire is heroin and OxyContin," Pettigrew said.