GRANT WILL HELP FIGHT DRUG ABUSE

Essex County was recently awarded a federal grant to up the anti in
fighting the heroin and OxyContin epidemic plaguing the North Shore,
law enforcement officials announced on Monday.

The two-fold initiative spearheaded by Essex County Sheriff Frank
Cousins and District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett will provide
continuing services for drug offenders re-entering society and
educational services for juveniles who may be on the road to drug use
and drug-related crime.

"My office is working with the sheriff and district attorney in
putting together an educational piece, focusing particularly on
juveniles," U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Salem) said. "We need to
identify the kids at risk."

Tierney's office lobbied hard in Washington for the $200,000 federal
grant money, he said, citing that the issues of drug abuse flows over
the borders of cities and towns.

"We plan to use the grant money to dovetail in with the sheriff's
efforts in prevention and after-care," Blodgett said Monday. "Eighty
percent of the inmates in Essex County Jail have alcohol or drug problems."

This initiative follows Blodgett's "Choose to Refuse" program, which
is an educational curriculum on the hazards of heroin and OxyContin
geared to young people and based on information received from Essex
County police and school departments.

Blodgett and Cousins worked together in an Essex County consortium
and brought the program on the road a year and a half ago. Together
with police officers, local and state officials, the panel provided
the hard facts on drug use in this county.

"We had to put the information out," Cousins said. "It's a fact that
drug use, especially heroin, is on the rise. It's so cheap, just $6.
And it's out there and readily available for our kids to get."

Blodgett and Cousins do not have a cohesive plan of action in place,
but met on Wednesday to discuss the details in putting the $200,000 to work.

"We looked at the re-entry initiative and what we can do for people
who have been incarcerated," Cousins said. "We need to take a look at
what we can do for them to prevent them from coming back to jail."

The sheriff's current initiative to provide services for this
population has been successful and is the first of its kind in
Massachusetts, he said, but there's still work to do.

"We may piggy-back with CAB and possibly recruit some of their
clinical staff to focus on the re-entry portion," Cousins said,
referring to the local drug rehabilitation agency. "But, it's too
soon to say exactly how we'll do it."

The second round in the initiative to fight drug use and related
crime will be rolled out in the spring. Both Cousins and Blodgett are
committed to identifying youths at risk and providing educational
services to thwart the behavior.

"We will look at kids struggling in school who may be identified by
staff, guidance counselors or police," Cousins said. "The numbers are
climbing and we must do something about it. We must correct kids' behavior."

"Time and time again we hear from parents that they just didn't
know," Blodgett said. "We need to drive the point home with the kids
that addiction has consequences."

Cousins and Blodgett thanked Tierney for his help in securing the
monies through the Juvenile Justice Discretionary Grant Appropriation Bill.

Jamie Gagnon, who works in the sheriff's office, worked on the
appropriate language for the grant application, Cousins said.
Cousins, Blodgett and Tierney have been working on securing the grant
for over a year.

"This is a real bipartisan effort," Blodgett said. "We have a
Democratic congressman, a Democratic DA and Republican sheriff. The
three of us worked together for the benefit of the citizens of Essex
County and I'm excited about this."