LOCALS MOBILIZE TO COMBAT DRUGS

PORTSMOUTH - In the days that follow a tragedy, questions inevitably emerge.

A week after the death of a Winnacunnet High School student, some of
those questions are: How could something like this have happened?
Will the abuse of drugs ever end? What can be done to stop these
deaths from occurring?

While there may not be an answer to every question, educators,
law-enforcement officials and families agree that something must be done.

Lloyd Chapin Jr., 17, of Seabrook, died Feb. 3 of a drug overdose.
Fire officials from his town say they've responded to about eight
overdose calls per year for victims 14 to 25 years of age. Chapin's
mother said her son's death has motivated her to help other families
fight drug abuse.

Jackie Valley, executive director of the Community Diversion Program
in Greenland, said it's moments like these when communities must mobilize.

"The failure in our society comes from thinking that we can prevent
all drug and alcohol abuse among teens. We know that this is not
true," Valley said. "We can put in place those aspects that reduce a
child's chance of drug use, but when circumstances go beyond our
control, we need to know where to turn."

And there are places to turn, including the Community Diversion
Program, which serves the entire Seacoast as a court-diversion program.

Gina Brodsky, York High School's wellness counselor, said even the
best of programs can fail unless the entire community gets behind them.

Brodsky knows that fact all too well. Two years ago, she helped her
community cope with the death of a high school student who overdosed on heroin.

The community responded by planning an educational event to help
avert future tragedies. But out of the 700 students who attend York
High School, only 20 students and their parents attended the educational event.

Brodsky, who is employed by York Hospital's Cottage Program, said no
matter how hard schools try to educate its students about the
consequences of drug use, all can be lost if parents fail to provide
structure and consistency for their children when they get home from
school. The hours between 3 and 7 p.m. are the most critical, she said.

Parents must ask themselves - what did I do when I was home alone in
high school?

"Then up the ante," Brodsky said. "The only way to combat this
problem as a community is ... if you look at drinking and drugging
.. as a right of passage, you could unconsciously be sending the
most lethal message to your child."

While Brodsky acknowledges she paints a dark picture, she said she
believes there is hope.

"I believe change can happen, but it's not going to happen if schools
and police officers are the only ones trying to put out the anti-drug message."

Portsmouth Police Capt. Janet Champlin said police are doing their
part. The city employs three resource officers who are assigned full
time to all the schools, where they teach about drug prevention.

"There are different ways of approaching the problem, which includes
education with a resource officer, enforcement from patrol officers
on the street, and then our detectives who are assigned specifically
to making drug-trafficking arrests," Champlin said. "We take a
multipronged approach."

Champlin said the educational component is essential.

"We can't arrest our way out of the problem. ... As long as the
demand is there for drugs, the supply won't go away," she said.

Two years ago, police departments across the Seacoast pledged to
crack down on heroin dealing and other drug-use problems that seemed
to be running rampant on the Seacoast, which many said was making its
way up from Massachusetts.

Champlin said police have remained committed to that pledge, as well
as getting into the schools and working with families to try and make
a difference.

"But the difficulty is that it is impossible to measure the drug use
that has been prevented by these programs," the police captain said.