'SOBER' SCHOOL EYED

Hub Facility Would Help Teen Addicts

When Laura Good was suffering from a nasty drug habit at the young age of
14, she had to go all the way to Minnesota to escape peer pressure in the
Bay State and attend a truly drug-free school.

"I was clean for a year and nine months and I tried going back to school
and it just wasn't working. It was miserable," said Good, now 19 and
sober. The teen, a multisubstance abuser with a particular taste for the
designer drug ecstasy, repeatedly relapsed when she returned to classes at
Arlington Catholic and Medford High School.

After reading about a "recovery" school in Minneapolis in a magazine, she
moved there in 2002 and graduated in June after three years of high school
with other kids struggling to stay straight. She starts classes next week
at Bunker Hill Community College and is now a key part of a task force
working to get a recovery school open in Boston.

"This is a dream that I've had - to have a high school around here for
addicts," she said.

Frustrated by epidemic-like surges in heroin and OxyContin use among
teens, the state Legislature has earmarked $800,000 for "sober" schools in
Boston and Springfield.

"Three years ago, if we brought this up, people would have laughed," said
state Rep. Brian Wallace (D-S.Boston), who is on the Legislature's
Committee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health. "Now people have a
different opinion and people are thinking outside the box." With backing
from Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, the task force has its eye on two Hub
sites and hopes to have the school open by January. The school will meet
state curriculum requirements, and students, who must apply or be referred
by the courts, will be drug-tested.

"I think its time has come," said Boston fire Lt. Willie Ostiguy, who is
on the task force. "We're not going to save everybody, but if we can make
a little dent, we've accomplished something." Studies have shown that teen
addicts who return to their old schools relapse 92 percent of the time
while 90 percent in recovery schools stay clean and half go to college.
While there are 18 "sober" schools nationwide, Boston's would be the first
in Massachusetts, which ranks second in teen drug use and has seen a
600 percent hike in fatal overdoses of OxyContin and heroin since 1990.
"We have a major OxyContin and heroin problem out there. I see the
magnitude of it and it's scary," said Sen. Steven Tolman (D-Brighton). "We
can curb the tide of drug abuse and have safe havens for youngsters
in recovery."