ROWLAND: HEROIN MESSAGE CAUGHT UP IN POLITICS

Governor Criticized For Saying Willimantic's Problems Can Be Found Anywhere

How does Gov. John G. Rowland view the heroin problem in Willimantic?

It seems to depend on his audience.

Immediately after The Courant published a five-part series outlining the
scope and human toll of a flourishing heroin trade in Willimantic, Rowland
asked the commissioners of public safety and the Department of Mental
Health and Addiction Services to offer assistance to local officials.

"The governor has expressed to both commissioners that he is very concerned
about this situation and he wants them to offer any help they can,"
Rowland's spokesman said last week.

During a televised debate Monday with his opponent in Tuesday's election,
Rowland announced that he would take the director of federal drug policy to
Willimantic the next day to talk to residents and local leaders about
combating drugs.

But on Tuesday, in front of local leaders in Willimantic, Rowland softened
his message. He praised the community for its economic development, called
it a beautiful town and said the heroin problem could be found in "any city
or town."

"Willimantic is a great town, a beautiful community," he said. "It's just a
classic, classic New England mill town," he said. "Willimantic is a town on
the rise, a community we're investing substantial money in. The Hartford
Courant could have gone into any city or town and written that article."

He didn't mention that he had set aside an additional $100,000 for the
statewide narcotics task force specifically for enforcement work in
Willimantic until the question was raised by a reporter.

Rowland's political opponents said Wednesday that he can't have it both ways.

"In Hartford, he talks about Willimantic like it's a big opium den," said
Bill Curry, Rowland's Democratic opponent. "In Willimantic, he talks like a
civic booster. That's John."

Curry said that Rowland has cut $52 million from drug treatment and
prevention programs.

"The governor is in complete denial about the effect of the tax cuts in
Willimantic," Curry said.

Rowland's spokesman responded by saying that the governor made a strong
statement just by going to Willimantic along with the White House director
of national drug policy, John P. Walters.

"The simple fact is, actions speak louder than words," said the spokesman,
Christopher Cooper. "He was in Willimantic, not any other of the 169 towns.
They didn't drive to Willimantic to say this is a classic New England town.
They were in Willimantic because of the problem."

Cooper said that Rowland was striving to "give some balance."

"The governor's point, was, yes, there is a problem here, but that is not
the only way of characterizing Willimantic," Cooper said.

Rowland brought with him U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District. After The
Courant's series, Simmons issued a press release calling for more federal
funding to help combat drug trafficking in Willimantic.

"The problem has devastating consequences for the people of Willimantic and
in surrounding communities," Simmons said in the release. "By providing
local enforcement and community organizations with the tools to combat this
scourge, we will strangle an otherwise vibrant lifeline of drug trafficking
and make our streets safer."

On Tuesday, he told local officials: "It's a wonderful community. You're
doing a great job."

Simmons also seemed to question the magnitude of the heroin problem based
on a U.S. Department of Justice map that did not list Willimantic as a
heroin trafficking route. He said there have been "heroin addicts here a
long time," but questioned the "amount of publicity" on the subject.

Simmons' Democratic opponent, Joe Courtney, called the Tuesday press
conference in Willimantic "political ambulance-chasing."

"I think his position is incoherent," he said, referring to Simmons.

Officials in other towns disagreed with Rowland's contention that
Willimantic's heroin problem could be found "in any city or town" in
Connecticut.

"Absolutely not," said Jenny Contois, the first selectwoman of Colchester,
a town of about 15,000, about the same size as Willimantic. "I don't think
it exists to that degree."

"I certainly hope not," said Peter Agnesi, the police chief in Avon, also a
town of about 15,000. "Every town, every city has drug problems. But we
never made an arrest for a significant quantity of heroin."

In Willimantic, addicts openly inject heroin on the town green and on the
banks of the Willimantic River. On any given day, social workers estimate,
200 to 300 addicts live in Willimantic, not including the 250 people who
attend the local methadone clinic. Police have seized thousands of bags of
heroin during drug raids.

Figures from the statewide narcotics task force, a combination of state and
local officers, show that the group makes more heroin arrests in
Willimantic than in municipalities of equal, or sometimes, larger size. For
example, in 2000, the task force made 45 heroin arrests in Willimantic,
compared with one in Bristol (population 60,137); 10 in New Britain
(population 71,653); and two in Norwich (population 36,141). In 2001, there
were 25 heroin arrests in Willimantic, compared with one in Norwich and six
in New London (population 25,692).

Michael Carbone, a researcher who studied the heroin problem in Willimantic
when a needle exchange program there was dropped five years ago, said that
Willimantic has more heroin dealing and more heroin users than many larger
towns.

While at the University of Connecticut, Carbone was on a research team for
an "aftermath study" of the defunct needle exchange that showed that heroin
use did not decline after the program was killed by the town.

"Science would support it's not something you would find in any town," said
Carbone, now a project manager for research at Yale University.
"Willimantic is a small mill town that has a heroin epidemic."