OFFICIALS WARN OF HEROIN PROBLEM

BOSTON -- Massachusetts has a "heroin epidemic" that would worsen if
House lawmakers get their way and eliminate funding of methadone
clinics, the state's public health commissioner said Monday.
Two-dozen treatment facilities that use methadone to wean addicts off
heroin would be forced to drop the service or lose state funds for all
of their programs, under a House-approved budget.

"We have a heroin epidemic in this state and we need to address it,"
DPH Commissioner Christine Ferguson said. "We have to attack this
problem head on. Every tool that we have at our disposal should be
used."

The House budget, which cuts substance abuse treatment funds by $5
million, directed that state funds "will not be awarded to those
organizations providing methadone services" to heroin addicts.

Gov. Mitt Romney has proposed "level funding" of substance abuse
treatment programs, at $37 million. The Senate, which restored a
similarly proposed House cut last year, plans to unveil its budget
proposal Wednesday.

Heroin made a comeback in the 1990s, largely because prices had
fallen, potency increased and needles were no longer needed to use the
drug.

Forty-two percent of people entering state-supported substance abuse
treatment programs in fiscal 2002 reported they used heroin within the
past year, compared with 19 percent in 1992, a DPH study found.

Methadone prevents users from both getting a heroin-like high and
going through withdrawal.

Critics say the use of methadone replaces one drug addiction for
another. Heroin addicts usually use methadone for years, gradually
reducing their dosages. Clinics also have come under fire for
attracting criminals.

Pulling funding may force addicts back onto neighborhood streets in
search of a fix -- or money for a fix, advocates say.

"We're one of the top states in the nation in terms of drug abuse,"
Ferguson said. "That's a serious threat in many ways, not just
individually, but in terms of the effect on a community."