HEROIN ON THE RISE

When the price of heroin increases in the region, the North Shore should
brace for a crime wave, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett
told business leaders this week.

Speaking before members of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce, Blodgett
said it is probably only a matter of time before heroin dealers ratchet up
the price of heroin, from its current price of about $4 a bag.

And when that happens, addicted users will steal anything they can in order
to pay for the drug, and to fuel their addition.

Nobody is immune, he said, as there was not a single city or town in all of
Essex County that did not have at least one heroin-related incident last
year. In some cases, like in Lynn, 19 people died from a heroin overdose
last year, and nearly another 100 were hospitalized.

When he took office early last year, Blodgett said he was astounded at the
significance of the problem and the prevalence of the drug.

"I didn't realize the problem was as bad as it is," he said.

In addition, the typical user does not meet the tradition stereotypes - no
longer are they someone nobody cares about living in a decaying urban
setting, sitting in a back alley with a needle hanging out of their arm, he
said

Users are now just as likely to be white, middle-aged professional people.
And kids, Blodgett suggested.

Five percent of Beverly High School students said they have tried heroin,
according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted in December of 2003.
The statewide average is 3 percent.

Using the example of a former football teammate of one of his sons in
Peabody, Blodgett said teenagers are finding that, more and more, heroin is
cheap and easy to get.

"It's cheaper than a six pack of beer, and it's easier for a teenager to
get than a six pack of beer," he said.

His son's former teammate bought a bag for $4 at a restaurant on Route 1,
and went back to his home and snorted it. A standup student without any
criminal record, it was his first time using the drug. In the morning, his
father found him dead, slumped over his computer.

Blodgett also cautioned that the edge heroin used to have, that it needed
to be injected, has been lost. Like many other first time users, his son's
former teammate snorted it. All heroin users, when addicted, will
eventually "graduate" to a needle, he said.

"I can't stand here and tell you I have the answers but I know part of the
solution is education," he said of what he called the heroin epidemic.

For example, prosecuting a superior court case from start to finish costs
about $30,000, he said.

"Preventing crimes saves all of you, as business owners and taxpayers,
money," Blodgett said.

Young people need to be told that drugs are not an option, he said.

His office's policy is straight-forward. Somebody charged with drug
possession will be offered all the help available. Somebody charged with
distributing or trafficking drugs will not be offered any deals or a
reduction in their sentence, he explained.

When someone becomes addicted to heroin, they are likely headed one of
three places Blodgett said - to death, to a lifetime of addiction or to jail.

Because of its addictive quality, a jump in heroin prices will lead to more
and more crimes from the addicts who are seeking ways to pay for the drugs.

"We're going to be in the throws of a crime wave we have never seen
before," Blodgett predicted.

And those crimes will likely lead thieves to pursue identity theft, the
state's fastest growing crime.

In 2002, a total of 4,000 identification theft cases were reported in the
theft, running up bills of over $4 million.

"From my perspective, prevention is what is going to carry the day," he said.

Its a rising concern for police and prosecutors, Blodgett said.

"We do prosecute these crimes vigorously," he told the business leaders as
part of his two-pronged presentation.

The crime is popular for desperate people - who often resort to "dumpster
diving" to obtain personal information - and clever people, like the
Danvers hotel clerk who duplicated a credit card many times and then ran up
charges.

For starters, he suggested that people make sure that their social security
number is no longer on their driver's license, and that it instead be
changed to a number beginning with a S.

He also told the business leaders that every instance of identity theft
should be reported. Sometimes, feeling ashamed that it happened, people do
not report the crime.

"We can't help you...unless you start the process by reporting it to you
local police department," he said.

He also cautioned people to never give out personal information on the
Internet unless they have initiated the contact. E-mails sent asking for
personal information and passwords is a new phenomenon of ID theft known as
"phishing," he said.

"If you are being solicited, the warning signs should go up and the hair
should go up on the back of your neck, to not give out your information,"
he said.

He also suggested people regularly get a copy of their credit record, and
make sure that bills are sent on a regular cycle so that if one is stolen,
or a thief has changed the mailing address, you will become aware.

In most, but not all circumstances, identity theft victims do not cost the
victims, but cause a lot of agony.

"It takes months to correct this type of problem," he said.