TASK FORCE RECEIVES GRANT TO HELP BATTLE SUBSTANCE ABUSE

The Allston-Brighton Substance Abuse Task Force has begun to make ambitious
plans for how it will use $140,000 worth of grant money.

The task force's goal is to prevent youth and adults from getting hooked on
drugs, particularly OxyContin and heroin.

"We're basically trying to target everybody in Allston-Brighton," said task
force project coordinator Donna Abruzzese at a meeting last week.

The organization hopes to work with other existing groups in
Allston-Brighton to reach every corner of the population. A large focus of
the prevention effort will be on youth, but the task force also hopes to
work with parents, businesses, churches, service organizations, immigrant
communities, college students and everyone else.

Dierdre Houtmeyers, co-chairwoman of the task force and director of St.
Elizabeth Medical Center's Comprehensive Addiction Program, wants the
effort to be a community movement.

"It can't be just 50 of us sitting at a table. It has to be 5,000, or
50,000 people moving to more awareness around substance abuse," she said.

City Councilor Jerry McDermott is the other co-chairman of the Substance
Abuse Task Force.

The group came together when officials at St. Elizabeth's and in the
community started to notice an increase of young adults being treated for
substance abuse, said Houtmeyers.

"We realized that we have a pretty huge problem in our area, specifically
around OxyContin and heroin," she said.

OxyContin, a prescription pain-killer, can cause serious addiction problems
when abused. The drug looks like a Tylenol, said Houtmeyers, but is much
stronger and has similar effects to heroin.

Once someone is hooked on OxyConitin, which is expensive, it becomes harder
and harder to afford the drug, particularly for a young person. As a
result, addicts eventually turn to heroin, said Kristin Langone, senior
legislative aide to McDermott.

"[Heroin] is so cheap and it's so pure, that a lot of people have
unfortunately turned to it," she said. These days heroin is so pure it can
be smoked or snorted, she said.

According to Houtmeyers, Boston leads the nation in heroin use.

The Allston-Brighton Substance Abuse Task Force seeks to prevent such drug
abuse before it starts. It has received more than $140,000 in grant money
to do this. Most of the grant money, $100,000, comes from the Department of
Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration. Another $40,000 comes from the Massachusetts Department of
Public Health, through the Boston Public Health Commission, said Houtmeyers.

Much of what the Allston-Brighton Substance Abuse Task Force will do is
mandated by the federal government, through its grant.

The task force will focus on community and family education, youth outreach
and advocacy. It will seek to build coalitions and share resources with
other organizations in the area.

Some of the youth outreach, for example, might be done in cooperation with
the Oak Square YMCA. Outreach to immigrant groups might involve working
with the Joseph Smith Community Health Center, which has existing
relationships with such groups.

While the task force is still discussing which groups to work with, it
hopes to use these existing organizations so it doesn't have to "reinvent
the wheel," as some task force members said at a recent meeting.

Some activities the task force is already planning include a youth summit
and a Walk for Recovery. The task force held a youth summit with about 700
students last summer, and organizers viewed it as a success.

Some of the task force's other goals are less tangible. It wants to change
the overall environment and attitude of Allston-Brighton, which has many
college students, bars and liquor stores, all which lead to an atmosphere
in which substance abuse can occur easily. Alcohol is the gateway substance
to other drugs, said Houtmeyers.

By working with other organizations, the task force hopes to stay a
permanent force in the community.