TACKLING SUBSTANCE ABUSE HEAD-ON

The posters will begin appearing around the city with
attention-grabbing images of death and headlines including "Totally
Wasted" or "Killer Party," followed by the phrase "one short-lived
high can become an eternal low."

On Monday, the Melrose Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition launched
a campaign to provide substance abuse information and prevention.
Called Melrose ROCKS - for "Rid Our Community of Killer Substances" -
the campaign addresses the growing problem of OxyContin and heroin
abuse and is just one effort the community is taking to fight all
forms of substance abuse.

Police say that much of the city's crime is linked to drug use, and
abuse can eventually become deadly, as evidenced by a suspected
drug-related death earlier this month and two others in 2003.

Studies conducted by the Melrose Department of Health since 1997
determined that alcohol is the most widely-used drug amongst the
city's youth, but far from the only problematic substance. The
Department of Health reports that 4 percent of students in Melrose
High School have used opiates such as heroin and OxyContin, and
marijuana is another choice drug. Case in point: after two weeks of
surveillance, police arrested 17-year-old Darien Sanford April 13 on
charges of possession to distribute a class D substance and
distributing a class D substance.

"He was a busy kid," said Detective Sgt. Barry Campbell. While
Campbell said that marijuana "is not to be forgotten," he called
heroin and OxyContin "the problem drugs," the ones that "lead to
overdose deaths."

The Melrose ROCKS campaign recognizes the problems that the opiates
can cause, and is therefore targeting the drugs. Adapted from a
Malden campaign by the same name, organizers of the ROCKS effort have
placed a banner across Main Street, and posters will begin appearing
around the city, near the high school and at playing fields. Kara
Clemente, the city's substance abuse prevention coordinator and head
of the ROCKS campaign, said she has been working with local
pharmacists, who have agreed to attach pamphlets to prescriptions for
narcotics about the dangers of abusing the drugs, and proper methods
of disposal - throw them in the trash.

"The point is not to discourage the usage of painkillers," said Ruth
Clay, director of the Board of Health. "It's to make adults aware
that their prescription is a desirable commodity."

'The Problem Drugs'

Campbell said that OxyContin first became a problem back in 2000,
with a rash of drugstore robberies and assailants looking for the
prescription drug. Soon enough, Campbell said that people ages 16 to
20 "were dabbling in [OxyContin], not knowing what they were getting
into. Now it's kind of an epidemic."

The problem moved rather quickly to include heroin as well, a
development that Campbell remembers noticing for the first time at
the end of 2001. A local gas station was burglarized, and when police
made two arrests in the case - of a 16 and a 20-year-old - Campbell
said police "found out they had robbed the gas station to support a
heroin habit."

Heroin had existed in the area before, but Campbell said it was
limited to adults in their 30s and 40s. But with younger people
getting hooked on the OxyContin, which produces a heroin-like high
when crushed and snorted, many users began turning to heroin if for
no reason other than the price - a common 80 milligram OxyContin pill
runs for $80 on the street. With users popping up to 3 pills a day,
the cost quickly accumulates. Heroin, on the other hand, costs just
$6 to $8 per hit.

Both drugs can result in overdoses, and heroin in particular can be deadly.

"When you start pumping it into your veins, that's when you start
seeing deaths occurring," Campbell said.

That danger hit home for Melrose in late 2002 and early 2003, when
two teens overdosed on drugs within a matter of months.

"That really shocked the community," Clay said. "It helped point out
that it could be any of our kids."

"There's no boundary for these drugs," Campbell said. "It's not
limited to a certain class of people."

As a response, the city and Board of Health really began to look at
drug prevention efforts, acquiring grants and taking steps that has
led to the Melrose ROCKS campaign.

Drugs Can Start With Cigarettes

While heroin and OxyContin may make the headlines, health officials
note that all drugs are interconnected, from alcohol to cigarettes to
the hard drugs.

"Many children are at the crossroads of becoming successful adults
and [ending up] in Wyoming Cemetery, or breaking into a house or
looking into unlocked cars," said Mayor Rob Dolan, who is firmly
behind the city's drug prevention efforts. He said that prevention
starts as early as keeping middle school students from smoking
cigarettes, and Clay was quick to agree.

"It's very well documented that tobacco is a gateway drug," the
health director said, noting that very few users actually start with
heroin or OxyContin. Furthermore, Clemente added that the earlier a
child or teen begins using substances - even tobacco or alcohol - the
more likely he or she will be to move on to harder drugs in the future.

The goal, Clay said, "is to delay the age of initiation." Besides the
ROCKS campaign, the city is taking other steps to delay and prevent
substance abuse, using methods ranging from giving youths healthy
alternatives to providing education efforts for students and their
parents. The Common Ground Youth Center and YMCA programs provide
students with a place to hang out after school.

Earlier this month, the Melrose Health Department, Substance Abuse
Prevention Coalition, and Melrose Police Department began the
Citizens Drug Recognition Academy, a four-course program providing
parents with information to recognize drugs, paraphernalia, and
physical symptoms and clues of users. The free Wednesday night class,
held at the Milano Senior Center from 7 to 9 p.m., wraps up next
week. With about 25 parents attending, Clay and Clemente determined
the program to be a success, and plan on offering another series of
classes in the fall if they can obtain funding.

Melrose High School also took a step towards alcohol awareness and
prevention this year by requiring any student attending the prom to
sit, with a parent, through a forum about underage drinking. The
meeting was held on Tuesday evening, and students and parents packed
Memorial Hall for the program, sponsored by the Substance Abuse
Coalition and the MHS PTO.

The program was "excellent," said Donna MacDonald, a member of the
Substance Abuse Coalition. She said that the speaker, Steve Maguire,
told the audience about the realities of alcohol abuse and also
"mixed in facts of how important it is for parents to talk to their
youths and keep open lines of communication."

Dawn Jacobs, a member of the MHS PTO, felt it was "good to have
parents listening to the same discussion as kids to provoke
discussion at home. We want them [teens] to stay safe and think about
the choices they make."

Clemente noted that 214 Melrose residents were admitted to drug
treatment programs run by the state's Department of Health in 2004,
and pointed out that the actual number of patients attending rehab
programs was likely higher. Whether alcohol or drugs, the city has
recognized that it, like many similar communities, has a substance
abuse problem. Yet as Dolan said, through programs such as Melrose
ROCKS and the prom forum, "I'm convinced we can save lives in our city."