SEE HEROIN USE RISING IN TEENS

Heroin is now affordable for a Norfolk County eighth-grader with a $5
weekly allowance.

It is so pure that a 13-year-old can painlessly snort it, but so
sneakily addictive that a steady user will need five bags to get
through the day.

For more than two years, law and health officials have warned of the
rise of heroin use across the state and its increasing presence in the
suburbs. But officials in the Norfolk district attorney's office, who
watched the surge in neighboring cities but perceived little threat in
this region, say the drug has recently been gaining a foothold in the
area, especially with teenagers.

"We're inundated," said Peter Curran, a Norwood Police Department
detective and a member of the Norfolk County Police Anti-Crime task
force, a unit composed of one or two detectives from each of the 15
departments in the county. It was formed about a decade ago to
investigate the sale and distribution of illegal drugs in Norfolk.

"Heroin is everywhere, all age groups," Curran said. "It's cheaper
than a six-pack of beer and easier to get. You don't need ID."

Lately, people as young as 13 and 14 are being introduced weekly to
the juvenile court system, charged with possession of heroin or intent
to distribute, said Thomas Mitchell, chief probation officer at
Norfolk County Juvenile Court.

"If you'd called me eight or nine months ago, I would have said it's
not a problem. I would have said kids are using ecstasy, they're using
alcohol," Mitchell said. "But I've been slowly becoming more aware of
a problem."

Recently, a 14-year-old girl was rushed from court in Dedham to the
hospital after her withdrawal symptoms became so painful she curled
into the fetal position to ease the agony, he said.

"She said she doesn't pay for it," Mitchell said. "What popped into my
mind with that 14-year-old, if she's not paying for it, she's
obviously doing something sexual to get it."

Such theories do not surprise Marissa Manning, 13, a Norfolk County
eighth-grader fond of hanging out at South Shore Plaza in Braintree,
where she recently talked about the burgeoning problem.

Word of middle school students using heroin began to spread around her
school last year, when she was in seventh grade.

"I don't think teachers know," Manning said.

While law enforcement officials said they believe more female
adolescents are dealing the drug, which can cost from $4 to $10 a bag,
Manning said it is more common for an eighth-grade girl to trade
sexual favors for heroin.

And, she said, it is the more popular students at her school who seem
to be using heroin. (Manning's parents requested that the name of
their daughter's school not be published.)

"The popular kids label" the other students, Marissa said. "They're
the popular ones. Then there's the semis, then the losers. I'm a semi."

A boy she befriended in the fourth grade began using heroin this year,
and shortly after that he started socializing with those in the
popular crowd.

She does not know whether he snorts or injects it.

"I don't want to get into his business," she said. "We don't talk much
anymore. I don't go near it. Just eat a lot of sugar and you'll get
high," she said.

Actually, the drug, which reportedly is purer in New England than in
cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, acts as a depressant, said
Wellesley Police Deputy Chief Bill Brooks, who leads the Norfolk task
force.

Younger users believe they will not become addicted because they are
snorting, rather than injecting, the heroin, but eventually, they need
to use more just to feel normal, he said.

"That's kind of the seductive side of it," Brooks said. "You can use
it every few days, even on weekends, and the addiction is the farthest
thing on their mind. It does sneak up on you. Before you know it, it's
something you need a little more of every day."

County-wide figures for heroin use among adolescents are not
available, though officials in the district attorney's office said
they are compiling statistics.

Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests an "uptick" in the last 12
months, said Norfolk District Attorney William Keating, who plans to
meet with school officials, local clergy and other law enforcement
agencies to discuss the problem.

"We want to get harder numbers. I don't think there has been a
comprehensive effort to get them," he said. "The problem clearly is
identified."

Brooks, who described the increase as "alarming" but not a sign of an
epidemic, said it is hard to find accurate statistics on heroin use
among teens.

"You do have to rely on anecdotal evidence," he said. "Adults use
[drugs] in motor vehicles. They have to get them in motor vehicles.
When their addiction takes hold they go into the street. You see less
of that with adolescents."

In December 2002, the state Department of Public Health released a
report showing 42 percent of patients who received substance-abuse
treatment that year reported they had used heroin recently. That
compared with 19 percent a decade earlier.

The average age of a heroin user has dropped from 27 a decade ago to
17, Mitchell said.

But many school officials, and even some police departments, said they
have not heard about heroin's popularity among adolescents and teenagers.

"God, I hope it's not here," said Paul B. Ash, superintendent of the
Westwood public school system. "I've heard nothing about heroin in
this town. I could be the first person surprised and told, 'Where have
you been living?' My impression is . . . we're experiencing here what
other towns are experiencing, alcohol and marijuana."

But in Weymouth, harder drugs have infiltrated the district, said the
high school's principal, Marilyn Slattery.

"We do know that we have some kids who are using heroin," Slattery
said. "We've been successful at getting a few into rehab. It came as
quite a shock to me when we heard about it. I'd be deluding myself if
I said it wasn't happening at Weymouth High School or Weymouth."

School officials are in an almost enviable position to stop young
teenagers from falling under the lure of heroin, Brooks said.

A guidance counselor who warns a parent of rumors that their child is
using heroin may be preventing someone from becoming a full-blown
addict, he said. Such early intervention "can be more effective than
waiting for the person to get locked up," Brooks said.

"By then the addiction is too deep."