HUNDREDS HEAR OF HEROIN HORRORS

A packed gymnasium of educators, police officers, clergy, parents and
others took the first significant step together last week to begin a
new battle against the escalating toll of heroin, Oxycontin and other
opiates on Essex County. Among them were Mayor Bill Scanlon, Police
Chief John A. Cassola, School Resource Officer Jeff Liacos and two of
the Beverly drug detectives.

The gathering, arranged by District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and
Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins, was the first of many public
dialogues expected about dangerously addictive drugs that have killed
dozens and hospitalized many more across the region in recent years.

"It truly is a horrific epidemic and a community problem," Blodgett
said. "This is a fight we can not afford to lose. If we don't all
work together, the fight will be that much harder."

Lynn firefighter Timothy Lawrence, who lost his daughter Kathleen to
a heroin overdose in 2003, said he learned first hand that parents
often have trouble confronting drug use when it is by their own kid.

Before her death, he told Kathleen that it was not good for her to
be at the parties she attended.

"A lot of times it was in good families houses," Lawrence
recalled.

Soon, the signs of opiate use surfaced.

"We become blind when it is our own kids," he said. "Other people
can see it in our kids, but for some reason we can't see it in our
own kids."

He encouraged parents to have conversations with their children and
not to be afraid to be a parent.

Five years ago, Essex County became one of 13 New England counties
designated as a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area by the Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

Since taking office, Blodgett has made it a priority to reiterate to
local media, parents and educators the dangers of opiates. Until
recently, most remained unalarmed and unconcerned.

Then came Jeff Allison, of Peabody, a first round draft pick of the
Florida Marlins bound for stardom as a top-notch pitcher. But he
showed up late for spring training last year, and later that summer
was rushed to a Lynn hospital after a heroin overdose. His story
started to get attention, and before long other prominent, and
otherwise typical North Shore youngsters, including the son of a
school superintendent and a football coach's son, were revealed as
addicts. It wasn't just a back-alley drug anymore.

"For every Jeff Allison, there are a thousand kids like him," said
Lynn Police Officer Larry Wentzell, who works in the schools. "It
isn't just about criminals and homeless people."

Sooner or later, many addicts do show up in jail, said the panelists
who spoke to the 500 people who packed a Merrimack College gym.

Cousins said 70 percent of the 1,600 inmates at the Essex County
Correctional Facility in Middleton are drug users. Of those, the drug
of choice is heroin, he said.

"Today's Oxycontin defendant is tomorrow's heroin addict," said
Marsha Kazarosian, a defense attorney who often represents drug
users. "Help is important early on."

Why Here? Why Now?

Heroin has rattled the region for several reasons, said George
Festa, director of the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area - high
purity, low prices and effective marketing techniques.

Like Lawrence, members of the gathered panel never suggested they
had the answer to stop opiate use and abuse, but instead drew on
their knowledge and experience to share with others ideas about how to
take in on.

"We have never had more tools in our collective tool box to address
this problem," said Dr. Stephen Valle, president of Adcare Criminal
Justice Services. Valle has offices in Taunton, and works from a
hospital in Worcester with outpatient services in other locations.

Like others, Wentzell said making children aware of the dangerous
and addictive nature of opiates is key.

"Drug education is the key to making any difference on this issue,"
he said.

And when users graduate from snorting the drug to injecting it, said
Rev. Rodney Hart, a recovered addict himself, the risk of getting HIV
from the needle is no deterrent.

Hart is director of New England Teen Challenge, a local chapter of a
national drug rehab program. His group is called Outreach Ministries
and he works in Boston and Providence.

"The power of that drug is something that captures you," he
said.

When a heroin user is addicted, getting locked up in jail often
becomes the point they turn for help, he said.

"Opiate addiction is not a choice, it is a lifestyle," said
Wentzell.

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, a Beverly resident, who also spoke at the
conference, said the state's heroin epidemic became clear to her last
summer after a series of meetings with local leaders.

"I think this is an intensely local and grassroots issue," she said,
vowing to increase funding to drug treatment programs.