FIGHTING THE WAR ON DRUGS ON SEACOAST

SEABROOK - One man, not yet 30, told of turning to prostitution to get
money for drugs; a young woman said she got hooked on heroin in three
days, losing her four-bedroom home and everything else she owned to
get high.

Michael Taylor, of Seabrook, said he was an addict before he was 18
years old.

"I'm almost 30 years old, and have nothing to show for my life," he
told the crowd of more than 100 people who turned out for a drug forum
at the Seabrook Community Center Wednesday night.

Kelly Deyo, 28, of Seabrook, said she began using heroin while living
in Hampton Beach. (See Deyo's story in Sunday's Herald.) A downstairs
neighbor who owed her money gave her bags of heroin instead. In three
days she was hooked, she said.

"I sniffed a couple of lines," Deyo said. "Nothing mattered; I watched
my husband make out with another woman."

Both complained that insurance and Seabrook's Welfare Office pay
little or nothing for methadoneor other drugs that could be the only
ways for an addict to come clean.

"I would advise anyone who goes to the welfare office who doesn't get
help, ask ... the town manager or selectmen; we'll see you get help,"
said Selectman Asa Knowles.

That it takes a community to combat what has been called an heroin
epidemic in Seabrook was the message from Police Chief William Baker,
who initiated the forum and invited panelists in law enforcement and
rehabilitation to attend. While coming to no definite conclusions, the
problem of this growing issue was discussed Wednesday.

Baker is forming a coalition of community members and urged residents
to join.

"If we don't work to find solutions; the problem will get worse, more
people will lose their lives," Baker said.

In the last year, two to three Seabrook residents have died of a drug
overdose, according to Baker.

Baker also indicated he realizes taxpayers cannot be asked to pay for
the problem.

"There are people who need heat, mothers who need food, addicts who
need maintenance medication, and no one wants to pay higher taxes," he
said.

Resident Owen Latham asked, "Where did they forget to say no? ... We
forget personal responsibility."

Panelist Riley Regan, director of the state Office of Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Prevention and Rehabilitation, said that "just say no" doesn't
work for someone already addicted.

Law enforcement gets the bulk of the money in fighting addiction,
Riley said.

"Yes, I would raise hell that there's not enough money to put into
treatment," he said. "I'm not going to raise hell; I work here."

In the last five years, said Riley, who has been in recovery for drug
and alcohol abuse for 37 years, he has seen a 10-fold increase in the
people who have sought treatment for heroin addiction.

"We are in an epidemic," he said.

Most addicts will end up in the mental-health system and will not be
treated for addiction, he said.

Riley said treatment works "if you've got a foot in your back," either
from an employer or a family member.

"People want someone else to fix it," said panelist Karin
Goscinski-Breton, student assistance counselor for the Southeastern
N.H. Alcohol & Drug Abuse Services in Dover. "It doesn't work that
way; we have to work together."

Goscinski-Breton said clients most often seek treatment for alcohol,
heroin and the prescription drug OxyContin. The average person in
rehabilitation is between 18 and 25 years old and middle class, she
said.

Heroin and drug use is not new. Four years ago the Narcotics
Investigation Unit made 40 arrests in the Seacoast area during
"Operation Lifesaver," said Sgt. Ellen Arcieri of the N.H. State
Police Narcotics Investigation Unit. The problem has gotten worse.

"I get the sense the community doesn't think the police are doing
enough," Arcieri said. "Many of you pass information to the police
department and expect the police to act on it. ... We need
cooperation. ... Personally, I feel law enforcement is a stop-gap measure."

Assistant Rockingham County Attorney Lisa Cirulli said her office has
seen the number of indictments handed down in recent years increase
significantly. Twenty-four percent of the case load is due to
felony-level drug offenses, she said.

Drug addicts also account for many theft and other
indictments.

"Fifty percent of our case load is connected to drug use," she
said.

Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said, "In my 12 years with the
A.G.'s office, we have seen an increase in heroin use, primarily
(people) going to Massachusetts, coming back, going back down the same
day or next day."

These "day trippers" are not the major suppliers, she said. The major
suppliers stay in Lowell and other large cities in
Massachusetts.

People who have good jobs find "they can't get out of bed without
shooting 25 bags of heroin a day," Young said. "When they can't sell
heroin, they turn to prostitution, theft - it's an epidemic."

Baker said he's been holding drug forums in towns where he has been on
the police departments for 22 years. Every day since taking over the
job in Seabrook earlier this year, he said, he's gotten calls and
e-mails from families devastated by the addiction.

"There's a big, giant problem of substance abuse in the community," he
said. "The fact that we got more people here than for the deliberative
session shows how important an issue it is."