HEROIN DEATHS SURGE IN SOUTHCOAST

At least seven SouthCoast residents have died of heroin overdoses in the
past three weeks. While treatment providers and law enforcement officials
agree to a dramatic upsurge in heroin use and abuse, they disagree on the
causes of the overdoses. Treatment providers point to nearly 36,000
Massachusetts residents kicked off MassHealth on April 1. They say that,
denied access to methadone, many addicts are returning to heroin and the
result has been lethal. But Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh
Jr., the region's chief law enforcement officer, says the recent surge in
heroin-related deaths is more likely the result of the heroin currently on
the streets that, either because of its high purity or some other factor, is
proving deadly. Meanwhile, House lawmakers on Beacon Hill proposed
eliminating funding for methadone clinics entirely in their fiscal 2004
budget proposal. That would mean close to 2,000 additional recovering drug
addicts in SouthCoast could be cut off their drug treatment programs by July
1, igniting fears among neighborhood groups of a looming drug-related crime
wave. "We're talking about turning many productive members of society, who
are maintained by methadone, out onto the street," said Drae Perkins,
executive director of Treatment on Demand. Mr. Walsh acknowledged the region
has a "big problem" with heroin.

He attributed at least seven deaths to the drug since the beginning of April
and said the number could be even higher. However, he is skeptical about the
benefits of methadone. "Some call it methadone treatment, others call it
drug maintenance," Mr. Walsh said. "I don't know if I'm totally sold on
keeping people high for the rest of their lives." Mr. Walsh maintains
eliminating methadone won't affect the crime rate one way or the other.

Furthermore, he said, heroin use is a problem throughout the eastern
seaboard and he blames the recent upsurge in drug use and fatalities on drug
purity and low cost -- not declining access to treatment. Under the House
budget proposal for next year, the Department of Public Health would lose 10
percent -- $3.8 million -- of a budget already hobbled by earlier cuts. And
substance abuse services would bear the brunt of the fiscal crunch. On April
1, MassHealth Basic insurance was put on the chopping block, a blow to
substance-abuse clinics.

Under the new provisions, they say, many of those clinics will not make it
to the end of the year. A line item in the budget now entirely eliminates
methadone as an optional benefit in Medicaid. "I really think it's
unconscionable. It's crazy thinking on their part," said Warren Berube,
executive director of the Center for Health & Human Services. "It disrupts
families, neighborhoods. It's very depressing to think that the Legislature
is thinking about eliminating the methadone program." Twelve-hundred people
are now served at Mr. Berube's two New Bedford clinics -- one-twelfth of the
state total currently in treatment.

He said he was perplexed to hear that lawmakers are targeting a drug
treatment budget that is relatively tiny, compared with the dollars
allocated to drug enforcement efforts.

Mr. Berube fears that individuals will abandon their struggle and get their
fixes on the streets, where a hit of heroin can sell for as little as $4.
Defenders of the methadone program cite what they say are the high numbers
of New Bedford drug users in recovery. Dan Mumbauer, executive director of
the High Point treatment center said he is "outraged" that so many lawmakers
apply a "drug-free" philosophy to substance abuse treatment.

The "cold turkey," "just say no" approach to treatment is narrow and
limited, he said. "They don't understand that (methadone) does work. They
think it's one addiction exchanged for another," said Mr. Mumbauer. "But it
enhances their quality of life. It enhances the whole community."