HANOVER-AREA GROUP PUTS FOCUS ON HEROIN

What frustrates Pat Loss the most about heroin use in the Hanover area
is the fact that most people deny there's a problem.

Almost four years ago, Loss tried but couldn't get a heroin-awareness
group going. Two years ago, she started again, and now the Awareness
Group is scheduled to have its first town meeting in February. "I feel
like we've wasted so much time," Loss said. "We could have made a dent
a long time ago."

In the past year, at least six people in the Hanover area have died
from heroin-related overdoses. Adams County officials have counted at
least three in the past six months, officials said.

Police have said that drug-related crimes are on the rise. And police
have been cracking down on heroin dealers -- including Operation
Smackdown, which netted 19 arrests and got more than 20 grams of
heroin off the streets last week.

But for Loss, a mentor with the South Western School District, it's
not enough. What's also needed, she said, is education.

"People will never understand until it touches them personally," she
said. They don't recognize that addiction is a disease and use terms
such as "junkie" and "scum" to define addicts.

"People think addiction takes over only certain people," she said. "It
doesn't discriminate."

The goal of the awareness group, which meets biweekly at the Hanover
First Church of God, is to bring awareness and educate parents and
children.

The group's mission statement is to provide with respect and
sensitivity educational programs that will increase public awareness
and prevention to those who are impacted by substance abuse.

The group's goals include getting into the school systems, hosting
town meetings and making a pamphlet with information for parents and
children. The pamphlet would include phone numbers to call for
information and locations of hospital and other options.

The growth of Loss's awareness group gives her hope that more people
are realizing the severity of the issue. On the other hand, it's a
sign that more people are personally affected by addiction.

"If it (heroin) was like a fungus, people would want to know about
it," she said.

And while one woman and her awareness group can't change the way
Hanover looks at the heroin problem, Loss said she's going to do this
until the day she dies.

"If you want to save lives, you've got to take strong measures," Loss
said.

IF YOU GO

Who: the Awareness Group, law enforcement, the public

What: Town meeting on drug use

When: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 17

Where: Wellness Center, 400 York St., Hanover