STILL ATTACKING SMACK

They've been at it for over a year, and guess what: You can still buy
heroin in Essex County. But in their continuing battle to curb rising
heroin and opiate use on the North Shore, Essex County officials will hold
a conference next month to discuss the next steps in smacking down this
still-growing problem. Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, Essex
County Sheriff Frank Cousins Jr. and the Anti-Crime Council will host a
summit to target the deadly epidemic of heroin and opiate abuse from 8
a.m. to noon Thursday, Jan. 13, at Merrimack College in North Andover.

The conference, entitled "The Heroin/Opiate Epidemic," is intended for law
enforcement, medical professionals, educators, civic leaders, clergy,
parents, pharmacists, business people, attorneys and community leaders.
"The goal of this summit is to heighten awareness of what is truly a
horrendous problem throughout the Northeastern United States," says
Blodgett. "Law-enforcement efforts are vitally important, but it is clear
that education is the best way to combat this terrible public-safety
issue. It is through education that we will stem the demand for these
lethal drugs." Cousins says everyone in the region should come together to
defeat this deadly scourge.

"Everyone can play a role in solving this epidemic," he says. "And that's
the way it should be and has to be. Too many young kids are becoming
involved with these substances and committing a variety of crimes to
finance their habits. Those crimes are felt by all of us. If we
collaboratively develop and execute solutions to this issue, the problem
will diminish." Essex County became one of 13 New England counties
designated as High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas by the Office of
National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) five years ago. Heroin treatment
admissions as well as hospital emergency department overdoses and deaths
continue to undergo an unprecedented rise in these counties.

Across New England, heroin is claiming more lives than homicide in some
metropolitan areas during the past six years. And according to a report
issued by the state Department of Public Health, there was a 230 percent
increase from 1996 to 2001 in the number of 15- to 24-year-olds receiving
hospital treatment because of heroin or narcotic addiction.

In 2003 alone, the Essex County Drug Task Force made 300 heroin-related
busts, and seized more than 21,000 single-dose bags of heroin and 2,172
grams of pure heroin, enough for more than 65,000 additional single-dose
bags. Heroin-related statistics for this year will not be available until
next month, according to Blodgett.

And the lethal strain of heroin being sold on the streets of Essex County
took at least two-dozen lives in 2003, notes Blodgett. "Heroin is cheaper
than a six-pack of beer, and despite law enforcement's best
efforts, easily obtainable," says Blodgett. "And now that it can be
snorted instead of injected with a needle, there is a sense among users
that it is more acceptable, and will be neither deadly nor addictive. They
couldn't be more wrong."

The rate of heroin emergency room mentions per 100,000 of population was
122 in 2001 for Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties,
according to the National Drug Intelligence Center. The national rate was
37. Blodgett has flogged the issue since his first day on the job two
years ago, and he refuses to give up on the fight. He says the only way to
raise the level of awareness and choke off the supply is through
education. "The way I look at it, we just have to do more to get the word
out," he says. "The only way we're going to beat this problem is
prevention. We have to teach people that only three things can happen: You
fight addiction for the rest of your life; you go to jail; or you die."

The keynote speaker for the Jan. 13 summit will be Clay Yeager, director
of community partnerships for Purdue Pharma, a pharmaceutical company that
produces Oxycontin. He is the former director of Pennsylvania's Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and was the executive director
of former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge's Community Partnership for Safe
Children. In addition to Blodgett and Cousins, conference speakers will
include George Festa, director of High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area-New
England; Dr. Stephen Valle, president of ADCARE Criminal Justice Services
Inc.; Maureen Walsh, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Parole Board; and
officer Larry Wentzell, student resource officer for the Lynn Police
Department.