AS OVERDOSES RISE AND HELP DWINDLES, A CRY FOR ACTION

Forum To Address Impact Of Heroin, OxyContin Abuse

From Nancy Reagan's simple "Just Say No" campaign to the billions
spent each year trying to stop traffickers and producers, Americans
have long waged war against illegal drugs, most with the conviction
that it is a fight both winnable and worth winning.

But here's a chilling fact: In three counties south of Boston --
Bristol, Norfolk, and Plymouth -- the number of fatal overdoses from
heroin, OxyContin, and other narcotics has continued to soar since
1990. The state Department of Public Health recorded 13 overdose
deaths among residents of those counties in 1990. In 2003, the most
recent year for which the agency has data, that total had jumped
more than 12 times, to 158.

The picture is much the same elsewhere in Massachusetts. Statewide,
the number of opiate-related fatalities leaped sixfold from 1990 to
2003. And the problem has worsened at a time when funds have been cut
for government-subsidized drug treatment programs across the state.
These issues will be addressed Tuesday night at a special public
forum in Easton, where parents, school personnel, and community
members will hear about the escalating abuse of these highly
addictive drugs in area cities and towns. "A lot of people are so
unaware of what's going on," said Jody Price, a Brockton teacher
helping to organize the event.

Price knows firsthand about the dangers of illegal drugs: Her
20-year-old nephew, Nicholas Pratt, died from a heroin overdose five
months ago after battling an addiction for two years, she said.

Price said that her sister and nephew had "looked high and low" for a
free rehabilitation program the weekend before he died.

"He never got a bed, and was dead on Monday night-early Tuesday
morning," she said. "There needs to be more places for these kids."
Tuesday's forum, "A Poison in Our Midst: Heroin, OxyContin, and Our
Children," will be hosted by the Unity Church of North Easton.
Panelists will include Easton Police Chief Thomas F. Kominsky; Harry
Somers, a psychologist who specializes in substance abuse; and Joanne
Peterson of Raynham, who founded Learn To Cope (www.learn2cope.org),
a local support group of more than 100 parents of children battling
drug addiction.

The discussion will focus on two drugs, heroin and oxycodone. The
state Department of Public Health classifies them as opioids because
they are either derived from or have a chemical structure similar to
opium. OxyContin is the brand name of a prescription drug that
contains oxycodone. On the street, these powerful painkillers are
called oxies, or OCs. According to recent federal statistics, more
than 11 million people in the United States have used OxyContin for
nonmedical purposes. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America
estimates that one in 10 teenagers has tried the drug, and its
chairman, Roy Bostock, warns that "Generation Rx has arrived." A
related, and troubling, nationwide trend is that OxyContin is not
only highly addictive, it is also quite expensive -- the pill's
street value can reach $65 to $80 -- and addicts often turn to
heroin, which is far cheaper. A bag or hit of heroin costs as little
as $4, less than a pack of cigarettes. State data show that the
number of fatal opioid-related overdoses in Massachusetts increased
from 87 in 1990 to 549 in 2003. In the early 1990s, there were only
a handful of fatal opioid-related overdoses reported in
suburbs south of Boston. Ten years later, those numbers have
exploded. In 2003, Bristol County reported 80 fatal opioid-related
overdoses, and the county's per-capita fatality figure is highest in
the state. That same year, Plymouth County reported 42 fatal
overdoses, and Norfolk County recorded 36. Heroin continues to be the
state's biggest drug problem: Of all the adults seeking
substance-abuse treatment in fiscal 2004, nearly half, or 42.7
percent, were heroin users. In 2001, heroin users outnumbered every
other type of drug treatment admission in the state, including
alcohol, according to the US Department of Justice National Drug
Intelligence Center. But budget cuts gradually have reduced the
number of free detox beds in this state. In 1991, there were nearly
1,000 publicly funded detox beds in Massachusetts. Today, there are
approximately 480. Most of the cutbacks occurred in fiscal years
2002 and 2003, said Michael Botticelli, assistant commissioner for
the Department of Public Health's substance abuse services, as a
result of state funding cuts to Medicaid.

At the same time, treatment admissions dropped steadily from fiscal
2002 through fiscal 2004. The number of heroin users who checked into
substance abuse services in Brockton, for example, dropped from 1,023
in fiscal 2002 to 865 in fiscal 2004. The number of users who sought
treatment in Quincy dropped from 1,493 in fiscal 2002 to 593 in fiscal 2004.

Botticelli, though, said "a lot has happened since then, a lot of
positive improvements."

He said additional funding in 2004 and 2005 has allowed the
Department of Public Health to bring back some detox beds, give
drug-prevention grants to communities, and bolster other treatment
services. The state launched an OxyContin and prescription drug abuse
prevention campaign last month. Since the radio ads started airing,
calls to the state's help hot line have tripled, he said. Price hopes
her nephew's story in Easton Tuesday night will help raise awareness
about the dangers of heroin and the need for resources to treat drug
addictions.

Pratt was a healthy, friendly, and loving youngster who grew up on
the west side of Brockton and ran on the track team at West Junior
High. He later attended high school at Champion Charter School, where
Price once taught. She said he loved animals and working on cars.

Pratt had tried marijuana. But, Price said, no one expected he would
be tempted by heroin.

She said that when her nephew became sidelined with fatigue and
recurring bronchial and sinus infections, his family became
concerned. After many visits to the doctor, the family finally
cornered him to ask what was happening. They were stunned when he
confessed he had been snorting heroin, Price said. "We just could not
believe it. Heroin? We didn't even know it was around." Price said
that for the next two years her nephew tried to shake the addiction
and his parents spent thousands of dollars on rehab programs for
their son, who did not have health insurance.

"He hated being addicted. He was always looking for advice," she
said. "Nick was very open about the whole thing because he hated it
so much. I think he thought if he talked enough about it, he'd find a
way to beat it." Things were looking up for Pratt last summer. He had
managed to stay drug-free for 3 1/2 months, Price said, and "we
really had hope." But, in early September, heroin "just got hold of
him again . . . and he spiraled downward really quickly."

Price said her sister and family could not find any free rehab bed
the weekend before Pratt's death. They called various detox centers,
including the local High Point Treatment Center. "My sister and
brother-in-law were desperate for any help," she said. "Nothing."

That scenario is not uncommon, said Carol Luce, admissions director
at the High Point facility in Plymouth. She said the state gives each
detox center a set "allowance" that pays for free care, but that
funding runs out quickly. "It's not the availability of beds that's
the problem; it's the availability of free-care funds," she said.

Luce, who has been working at the detox center since 1987, estimates
that 80 percent of High Point's clients are addicted to opiates.
"We're seeing a lot more OxyContin," she said. "It's caused a huge
problem." The night before Pratt died, his parents decided, as a last
resort, to commit him to Bridgewater State Hospital, hoping he could
spend 30 days there and withdraw from heroin under professional
supervision, then get referred to a halfway program. But when they
checked on him that night, he was dead. For Price, sharing that story
Tuesday night will be a way to honor her nephew's life. She hopes it
will prevent another death. "A Poison in Our Midst: Heroin,
OxyContin, and Our Children" will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at
the Unity Church of North Easton at 9 Main St. in Easton. For more
information, call the Rev. Eric Cherry at 508-238-6373 or e-mail
Jody Price at -jlmprice@verizon.net-.