TOWN LEADERS TO SET UP TASK FORCE TO STUDY DRUG PROBLEM

WINDHAM, Conn. -- Town officials say they will set up a task force by the
end of the week to study the Willimantic section's heroin problem and
propose solutions.

First Selectman Michael Paulhus announced the formation of the new panel to
nearly 200 people at a public forum on the drug problem Wednesday night at
Windham High School.

The former mill town, situated between Boston and New York, has been a
prime stop for heroin dealers for nearly three decades. A recent five-part
series by The Hartford Courant documented the history, scope and human toll
of the problem. As many as 300 addicts live in Windham.

The forum and the task force were part of the response to the newspaper's
report.

Chris Cantu, who said his family lives in one of the town's poorer
sections, told the Norwich Bulletin that he did not see anyone from his
neighborhood at Wednesday's forum.

"They're all middle class," said Cantu, an 18-year-old University of
Connecticut student. "Not many here are from the poor community who live
near the drug dealers."

Paulhus was joined at the forum by state Rep. Walter Pawelkiewicz,
D-Windham, and eight experts in social services, law enforcement, judicial
matters and education.

Paulhus announced that he would oversee the establishment of the task
force. He said the group would take 90 days to assess the drug situation
and recommend actions.

Forum panelists said there isn't enough funding for community policing, a
drug court, more extensive drug treatment programs, counseling for students
with mental health and substance abuse issues or after-school programs.

"We do not get our fair share of resources," Pawelkiewicz said.

Gov. John G. Rowland and national drug czar John Walters visited
Willimantic Tuesday to tour a drug treatment center. Rowland later
announced he would make $100,000 in state money available to narcotics
enforcement officers in the area.

Panelists also said no one agency can handle the problem by itself.

"You are not going to police your way out of the drug problem in the
community," Capt. Lisa Maruzo-Bolduc of the Willimantic Police Department said.

Residents expressed concerns about children playing in parks and
neighborhoods littered with discarded drug needles and about whether their
property values would decline due to the focus on drugs here.

One panelist, Diane Potvin, has been in recovery for 15 years. Potvin, an
area coordinator for Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery, was once
homeless and unemployed. She said more people like her in town are starting
to talk about their successes in recovery and that could encourage addicts
to consider getting help.

Potvin said beds in treatment centers and other resources need to be
immediately available when addicts seek help because it doesn't take long
for them to change their minds.

Deborah Walsh Bellingham, executive director of Perceptions Programs Inc.,
a drug treatment program, said she believes the best answer to the
substance abuse crisis in the region is to "medicalize" drugs, a theory
that, in part, calls for more focus on treatment and prevention.

Willimantic Police Lt. Clifford Spinner stood to give his closing remark:

"The hardest thing for a society to do is look at itself under a
microscope. We started that tonight," he said.