DRUG PROBLEM IN DEPENDENCY FIGHT GROWING

The recreational use of a drug intended to fight opiate dependency is
growing in Nashua.

Since 2009 there have been 16 Suboxone-related arrests in Nashua five
for intent to distribute. Nationally, it is listed as the
second-highest cause of accidental deaths, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2007, 27,658 such deaths were
reported.

Nashua police Lt. Scott Hammond, head of the narcotics division, said
it's common for addicts to sell Suboxone to purchase heroin.

Hammond sees himself as part councilor, part cop. He believes
treatment must be paired with law enforcement to adequately treat the
scourge of opiate addiction.

"What we're finding now in the majority of our cases, is that if you
have somebody that is an addict, the courts are now mandating some
sort of treatment program for them. ... If the courts are going to
mandate that you have to get into a treatment program, well, we have
to provide more treatment programs for people."

Dr. Harold Rosenblatt agrees.

"To believe that taking a pill every day or twice a day is going to
treat this disease by itself is not going to be sufficient," said
Rosenblatt, who works at Merrimack River Medical Services, which
specializes in drug addiction treatment services. "A person needs to
have support, they need to have counseling."

Rosenblatt, who prescribes Suboxone and methadone, thinks it's nice to
have something other than methadone to treat addiction but recognizes
the downside. Unlike, methadone, which is usually administered in a
clinic with a nurse watching, patients receive take-home prescriptions
for Suboxone so less monitoring occurs.

Suboxone's manufacturer claims the drug's molecular structure gives it
a "ceiling effect," meaning the brain's opioid receptors will only
absorb so much of the drug and taking higher doses will not result in
a greater high. This reduces the risk of overdose, unless it is
combined with alcohol or benzodiazepines like Valium.

August West has been using opiates like percocet, oxycontin and heroin
for four years, since he was released from the Coast Guard. West, 28,
of Nashua, spoke from the American Legion on the condition that his
real name wasn't used.

West comes from a family of addicts, including his mother, father and
fiancee. He began using Suboxone two years ago, when a friend said it
offered an exit from stronger drugs.

"I definitely developed a huge habit, and I love the feeling. ... I
wouldn't do it if it didn't make me feel good," West said. "I have a
ton of anxiety, and with the Suboxone, it just makes you feel, like,
invincible. "

West gets his Suboxone on the street for $15 for an 8 milligram
pill.

"I know people that are injured, amputees, they got pills, they have
insurance so they get 'em for nothing," West said.

He said he has tried kicking Suboxone but never made it past three
days, when withdrawals symptoms began.

West said health care costs prohibit many would-be patients from
getting Suboxone through legal routes, a statement that Rosenblatt
backs up.

"There would be a doctor charge, there may be a clinic charge, there
would probably be a charge for laboratory testing, in addition, anyone
on Suboxone or methadone should be in some kind of counseling, so
there may also be a cost associated with that," Rosenblatt said.

Nonetheless, West said Suboxone has allowed him a stability he has not
known since he first became hooked.

"It's allowing me to get through the day and just be normal," West
said. "There will come a day when I'm done and I stop everything, it
will happen. But not right now. It's not my plan."