FEDERAL DRUG CZAR TO VISIT WILLIMANTIC

HARTFORD - A week after a scathing newspaper series reported a heroin
problem in Willimantic, the federal drug czar plans to visit the town.

John P. Walters, director of national drug policy in the Bush
administration, will tour a drug treatment center with Republican Gov. John
G. Rowland today. The pair also plan to meet with local prevention and
treatment officials to discuss problems with heroin and other drugs.

On any given day, social workers estimate, 200 to 300 addicts live in the
community of 15,823 in the middle of eastern Connecticut.

The heroin market grew stronger in the 1990s with the increased
availability of high-purity heroin, which can be snorted. The form attracts
a new, younger user who shuns needles, Drug Enforcement Agency officials
told The Hartford Courant.

Rowland spokesman Chris Cooper, said that Walters is visiting Connecticut
to find possible models for drug treatment in other states.