REPORT: STATE NEEDS TO DO MORE TO CURB ADDICTION - FALL

The opiate problem isn't new in Fall River, where in 2002 police
seized 3 pounds of heroin valued at $1.2 million following an
eight-month investigation.

Massachusetts has long had an opiate problem, too, but a 70-page
report released last month from the state OxyContin and Heroin
Commission refocused attention on the issue.

The state, the report said, is "in the midst of a serious and
dangerous epidemic" of soaring heroin and opiate use, while support
for treatment programs remains insufficient.

The number of deaths these addictions cause -- more than 3,200 in
Massachusetts from 2002 to 2007 -- far exceeds causes of death that
receive far more attention, the report said.

"If the H1N1 virus killed 3,000 people in a five-year period in
Massachusetts, the crisis would be center stage," it said. Over the
same period, the number of Bay State soldiers killed in Afghanistan
and Iraq was 78.

A 2008 report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said heroin
in Massachusetts is cheap and "readily available," and that abuse is
"widespread." OxyContin is "extremely popular" and often a gateway
drug to heroin, it said.

Rhode Island has a similar problem with heroin, which "can be
purchased in nearly every town and city," the report said.

Ease of access is a significant contributor.

Nationally, 60 percent of pain relievers used for non-medical reasons
are given free by relatives or friends, a report cited by the
commission said. In Massachusetts, the number of prescriptions for
opiates more than doubled from 1996 to 2007.

One Cape Cod doctor illustrates that problem. According to the state,
Michael Brown prescribed nearly one-third of all OxyContin
prescriptions statewide -- almost 290,000 tablets in 2004 alone.

In Fall River, near a New York-Providence-Boston drug route, heroin
is also cheap. One OxyContin pill, depending on the size, can sell
for $80 to $150, according to the Bristol County district attorney's
office. A bag of heroin is somewhere between $3 and $10.

Opiate abuse cases are common partly because Massachusetts lags in
devoting funding to prevention, treatment and research, according to
a report released in May by the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse. For every $100 the state spends on drug addiction,
only $1.45 goes toward prevention, treatment and research.

Massachusetts ranks in the lower third of all states, at nearly half
the average of $2.38 and well behind Connecticut, the leader at $10.39.

The state commission report made 20 broad recommendations, including
raising awareness to children at a young age of the dangers of drugs,
overhauling the state's prescription-monitoring program to ensure
patients aren't getting illegal prescriptions, and diverting addicts
from jail sentences to treatment programs.

It said prescriptions for controlled substances should be written on
official state prescription pads with tamper-resistant features, and
hospitals should be forced to report to parents if their child
suffers an overdose.

FIXING THE PROBLEM

Fall River is in the second year of a federally funded three-year
opiate prevention program that provides education and outreach for
opiate addicts, their families and friends, and health care providers.

Only 12 cities statewide were given money to adopt the
program.

With $100,000 in funding each of the three years, the program, Power
2 Save Lives, works with Seven Hills Behavioral Health to talk to
patients monthly at SSTAR and Steppingstone, and partners with the
BOLD Coalition.

The program is also seeking to eliminate barriers to contacting
emergency responders during an overdose by supporting a bill in the
state Senate that protects overdose victims and witnesses from drug
possession charges. Many witnesses to drug overdoses don't call 911
for fear of police involvement, the 911 Good Samaritan Campaign says.

The state commission's report has "moved the ball a little bit" in
the fight for addiction services reform, said Sen. Steven Tolman, a
Boston Democrat who chaired the commission. Tolman also sponsored the
Good Samaritan bill.

Since the report was released, the state has hired someone whose sole
duty is to re-establish a prescription-monitoring program, Tolman
said. The senator has met with companies working on tamper-proof
prescription forms and a pill that blocks brain receptors that react
to heroin. Next month, he'll meet with Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt.
Gov. Tim Murray to discuss opiate addiction.

Local service providers and those who have faced opiate addiction
firsthand largely agreed with the commission's recommendations and
emphasized more drug education in schools, better monitoring by
parents, closer tracking of illegal prescriptions and easier access
to treatment.

"Everything in schools is geared on getting better test grades, and
health is out the window," said Nancy Paull, the chief executive
officer of Stanley Street Treatment and Resources, or SSTAR.

Drug danger is "not being taught because it can't be measured by
MCAS," she said. "That's a huge mistake."

Karen Fischer, staff director for the BOLD Coalition, a Fall River
substance abuse prevention organization, estimates that only one in
10 addicts that need treatment are receiving it. And keeping
youngsters from picking up the habit is especially important. Someone
who uses a substance before turning 15 has a 45 percent chance of
becoming addicted to that or another drug, she said.

Someone who uses a substance at age 21 or older has less than a 5
percent chance.

That shows how important early prevention is, Fisher said. "There has
to be zero tolerance."

Dee Bettencourt, whose 20-year-old son was killed in a drug deal,
said parents should be constantly looking for signs that their
children could be doing drugs and to question them if things don't
seem right. If she could go back in time, she said, she would have
been more forceful in getting her son help.

Liisa Bennett, whose son has struggled with an addiction since
receiving a painkiller prescription at age 15, said creating
treatment programs in jail would go a long way toward ensuring that
addicts don't relapse once they are released.

But if only a few of the commission's recommendations are put into
place, all the work invested in the report will do little, Bennett
said.

"If it's not all enacted, we'll never get a hold of this epidemic,"
she said. "I have a hard time digesting that this is such a bad thing
and people aren't outraged all around, whether they're directly
impacted or not."