HEROIN DAMAGE: SUPERINTENDENT ALMOST LOST SON TO OXYCONTIN

PEABODY -- Herb Levine knew his son Joel was using OxyContin and he knew
how bad that could be. Yet he wanted to believe that this was one of
those wrong turns people make, a mistake to be corrected with a little
self-discipline. "I just couldn't understand why he couldn't just walk
away from whatever crap he was involved in and get back to the kid I
always knew." The kid with the bright future, the high school baseball
prospect, full of charm, making friends with ease. His mother and father
bore down, looking to rescue all that promise and innocence.

"We discussed it sometimes with raised voices," says Levine. "But when
your child is addicted you're not going to get the truth. " Joel, ,
minimized his problem. The drug was in charge, his father now realizes,
and Joel was content to leave it in charge. "Everything's great," he told
his parents.

Until one long night when the assurances rang especially hollow and the
facade cracked and Joel simply told his father, "Dad, this is so hard."
"And it was the way he said it," the Salem school superintendent recalls.
He realized that his son had become an addict requiring serious
rehabilitation. The family's status didn't mean much in a world where a
fix can cost less than a night of drinking beer. What's more, OxyContin
- -- like its twin, heroin -- is no longer needles and back alleys. It's
pills and powder, and everybody's doing it -- with some paying a stiff price.

"He could have been one of the kids who died," Levine says suddenly. "It
chills you right to the bone to think of it."

Levine realizes that most parents want to know what he did wrong a8"
the better to avoid the trap. He asked himself the same question. His two
children from a previous marriage had avoided this sort of problem; one
became a paralegal and the other graduated from the United States Air
Force Academy and is now a pilot for Southwest Airlines.

Despite his demanding job, Levine was always able to go home to Peabody
for dinner with his two youngest children. In fact, he spent lots of time
with Joel, coaching him in baseball.

"He's a much better athlete than I ever was," Levine says, recalling Joel
slugging a Wiffle ball at age . "Sports have been as much a part of our
lives as breathing." He shakes his head. "It's funny how unimportant
baseball is now." If the father made mistakes, he came to see that they
aren't worth worrying over. It's the person who did the drugs who made
the real mistake. It's the person taking the drugs who is ultimately
responsible for getting free of them. Levine avoids specifics when
discussing how Joel became addicted during his senior year at Peabody
High. A lot of this might be connected to his friendship with star
Peabody pitcher and teammate Jeff Allison, who has admitted an addiction to
OxyContin.

Levine says only that it was a social situation. No alarms went off. It
didn't seem to Joel that he was taking a step he might regret all his
life. A pill was cut into quarters. Joel took one.

Levine believes his son was under the influence of the drug for about
eight months. He warns now that all parents should be on the watch for
telltale signs, like changes in personality and in the cast of characters
who associate with their children. A tip from the Peabody police put him
on alert. "I will be forever grateful for that."

Soon, he was up, sometimes until a.m., waiting for Joel to return home and
slowly realizing that the boy was in a life-or-death struggle. Levine
repeats it several times: "You can't give up on your kid." Even so, the
drug user has to commit himself to do most of the fighting.

After a great deal of research and talk between Joel and his parents, he
went to live in a rehabilitation facility in New Hampshire. Levine urges
parents in a similar situation to look closely at all the options. Both
faith-based and secular approaches are available. "Most correlate to the
1-step program from Alcoholics Anonymous. That's what worked for Joel." As
to how it worked, Levine can say little. "I don't know the details," except
that it altered his son dramatically, he says. "(Joel) has changed his
whole way of living." For one thing, both father and son are eager to speak
out publicly about the addiction. Although Levine has tried to shield his
son from too much publicity a8" he didn't want him talking to his hometown
newspaper a8" Joel did speak to Sports Illustrated, as part of an article
on Allison. And he will continue to address large and small gatherings
concerned with the problem. On Monday at 7 p.m., he will join his father at
a Salem High School forum on the OxyContin/heroin epidemic arranged by
District Attorney Jon Blodgett.

Helping others is part of the recovery process, explains Herb Levine.
"He's gotten calls from people in trouble. He's helping two people now."
Their lives will never be the same. "You grow up loving your kid, trusting
your kid. And then all of a sudden the rules change." After rehab, Levine
told Joel, "I'll go into your room at any time. I'll look under the bed.
I'll listen in on your phone calls. I'll do anything I have to as your
father to keep you safe and alive."

He adds, "You can respect your child's privacy and wake up and find him
dead the next morning."

Levine admits he might be hypersensitive on the subject of drugs now. He
hopes that Joel's younger sister, a high school junior, understands if
her parents now seem overly protective.

For his part, Joel will always live knowing that the "craving" for the
drug can return. He's careful about where he goes and whom he goes with.
He's sworn off drinking and parties. When friends made a New Year's trip to
Montreal, he stayed home.

Attending Salem State College, Joel lives at home and plans to join the
family business. "He wants to teach," his father smiles. "Phys-ed. And he
has a lot to offer." He pauses and adds, "Maybe more than before." Levine
has no illusions. "We understand the only thing behind us is yesterday.
We're thankful for every day that he gets." But, characteristically, his
optimism is not far from the surface.

"My kid's a great kid. He's always been a great kid. Kind. Compassionate.
And decent. And he's come back to the way he was before." Levine is
clearly uneasy at making so much of his family life public. But he feels
it's urgently important to alert parents who might be in the same
situation. "Let people know they can't wait. They have to fight the battle
and they have to fight it right away."