DURFEE PARENTS GET CRASH COURSE IN NARCOTICS ID

FALL RIVER -- While the goal is usually to keep drugs out of schools,
that wasn't the case Wednesday night at B.M.C. Durfee High School.
Filling out a table in the middle of the Tradewinds Restaurant sat an
array of narcotics from crack cocaine to heroin to marijuana, but in
this case no one was going to get in trouble.

Instead the drugs were there, along with Detective Andrew Crook of
the police Vice and Intelligence Unit, to give parents a crash course
on what they look like and the types of paraphernalia that typically
accompany those narcotics.

Crook started out the discussion holding up a small bag of heroin.
He told the nearly two dozen parents about how it's packaged and the
costs associated with the drugs. Crook described the drug is "the
most dangerous and tied as the most prominent drug" in Fall River.

Typically packaged with either a stamp or in color bags so users can
identify the quality of the drug, Crook explained an individual bag
of .03 grams is usually $10 with discounts coming to users who
purchase in bulk.

"If you ever see a single bag in your house it would be a major
concern, because no one uses heroin recreationally," Crook warned the parents.

He also shared tips on how the drugs is used, whether snorted or
injected, and mentioned household products such as spoons or soda
cans that can be used to cook heroin.

The problem of heroin addiction, he added, is one affecting many
walks of life.

"With heroin use, today you're a banker, an accountant, a doctor,
but tomorrow you're chasing heroin on the street to rob and steal,"
Crook said. "Therefore, that family is now in distress and they're
bringing your family into distress because they're robbing you or
robbing grandmother."

Crook next showed parents a bag of crack cocaine, saying the
brown-colored drug is often packaged in the torn-off corners of
plastic sandwich bags.

He told parents to look out for the presence of the bags and/or 2-
to 3-inch straws that would be used to ingest the drug.

Crook also brought along a few bags of marijuana, also stored in the
corners of plastic bags.

"We come across marijuana quite frequently, but it's not quite as
major a concern as heroin," Crook said.

Crook's lesson also touched on drugs such as ecstasy, steroids,
Oxycontin and methamphetamines, saying while their use is not as
prevalent as the other drugs, they are being used in the city.

"Everything shown here today we didn't get in New York City or
somewhere else," Crook said. "We got them right here in Fall River."

While those drugs have a presence in the city, Crook said, a strong
relationship exists between the police department's gang unit and
the Durfee school resource officers to share information about arrests.

"The city and chief of police (John M. Souza) are very proactive
about this," Crook said.