STUDENTS STUDY AREA HEROIN PROBLEM

SEABROOK - When Winnacunnet High School seniors Heather Fritz and
Arlee Stankatis of Seabrook searched for a topic for their senior
seminar project, they needed to look no further than their local
police department.

The 17-year-olds had heard and read much about Seabrook's heroin and
drug problem, which was called "epidemic" last year by Ellen Arcieri
of the state Narcotics Investigation Unit. They wanted to find out for
themselves just what was going on in town.

Fritz and Stankatis contacted the Seabrook Police Department, and
found a bevy of officers willing to give more than 20 hours of their
time helping them research the topic.

"They gave us documents, statistics," Fritz said. "(Interstate) 95 is
the main route for the trafficking of drugs. Everybody's helping us."

Police Chief David Currier told selectmen last month that Sgt. Michael
Gallagher, prosecutor Scott Mendes and former sergeant and head of the
Drug Coalition, Michael Frost, were helping the Seabrook teens.

Fritz said the biggest surprise they found after talking to the police
is that heroin is not the rage it used to be.

"It first skyrocketed and now it's at a plateau," she
said.

The seniors knew about heroin abuse because of the media attention
paid to the problem earlier this year after Currier, and then-former
police chief Bill Baker, went public about it.

Baker held a heroin forum in February at the Seabrook Community
Center, which attracted at least 200 people. Many were members of
families affected by an addicted loved one.

Baker, with the aid of State Police including the K-9 unit, then
initiated a series of highly publicized drug arrests.

"There were a lot of busts around the Seacoast," Fritz said. "We
started collecting articles."

The teens are identifying different drugs abused in the Seacoast and
finding out what the police are doing to prevent their sale and use.
They are also researching treatment centers and hospitals such as a
methadone clinic in Malden, Mass., Fritz said. Methadone is a drug
commonly prescribed to help addicts withdraw from heroin.

Fritz and Stankatis will also be visiting Anna Jaques Hospital in
Newburyport, Mass., and Exeter Hospital in Exeter.

"I think people need more information on drugs to stop the problem,"
Fritz said. "My main point is to give people more information on drugs
and how bad they are - to cut down on recreational use."

Senior seminar is a community project required for graduation. It
involves research, conducting interviews, writing a paper and
presenting the findings for a pass or fail grade.

Fritz and Stankatis expect to present their project to their class by
the end of November. When they do, Fritz said, the police officers who
helped them have said they want to be there to see it.