Series: Wasted Youth

FORMER STUDENT SHARES HORRORS OF HEROIN ADDICTION AT COYLE-CASSIDY

TAUNTON -- Eighteen-year-old Alyssa Malloch knows drugs can affect
anyone, even a Coyle-Cassidy student.

"It doesn't matter that we're in a Catholic school. It doesn't matter
what school you go to. It's an addiction and no one is over that
power of a drug," Malloch said after a drug information program at
Coyle-Cassidy High School Wednesday.

The senior said she was especially touched by former Coyle student
Nick Saba, 21, a recovering heroin addict who told students about how
drugs altered his life.

"It's scary to know that he came from Coyle. He could be like any one
of us sitting in the audience. It was an eye-opener," said Malloch.

The program came in the wake of a recent Enterprise series, called
"Wasted Youth," that examined the toll OxyContin and heroin addiction
have taken on this region. Saba's story, and his emergence from four
years of addiction, was featured on the second day of the series.

Saba was one of four guest speakers who warned the high school
students about how one bad choice could change a young person's life forever.

Two back-to-back programs were held in the main auditorium -- one for
freshmen and sophomores, the others for the upperclassmen.

It was Saba's first visit to Coyle since dropping out as a junior,
and he told students how his trip "into Hell" began with taking one
OxyContin pill at a prom party his sophomore year.

"I was a tri-athlete and a good student. I was planning on going to
college," he said. "Little did I know that one pill would alter my
life. ... I went from star hockey player to living in the streets, to
ending up in jail. I threw my whole life away. Nothing mattered
anymore. I didn't see it coming. It happened so fast," said Saba, who
used OxyContin for a year before moving to heroin.

State Trooper Brian Galvin, the event organizer and a graduate of
Coyle-Cassidy, put together the program after becoming impassioned
about the topic of opiate drugs.

"Percocet, Percodan, OxyContin and heroin -- opiates. These drugs
have sunk their teeth into every community," said Galvin, who said he
recently had to arrest two former classmates for possession of Percocet.

He said the point of the seminar was not the elementary school
message of "saying 'no' to drugs," but rather "this is what's going
to happen if you say 'yes.'"

Steve Damish, managing editor of The Enterprise, told students about
the paper's series on addiction, and distributed copies of the
articles after the seminar.

"In the communities that The Enterprise covers, nine people have died
in the Iraq War locally," he said. "One hundred have died in the same
time period from opiate overdose."

Damish told the audience that the drugs are readily available in the community.

"It's out there. You will come across it in some form or fashion.
This is about knowing what happens if you decide to say 'yes,'" said Damish.

A slide show from The Enterprise's Internet presentation of the drug
series, featuring Saba, was shown before the former Coyle student spoke.

"I took that one pill and it took me through hell," said Saba, who
has been sober for a year and 10 months. "Today I am a true believer
that God saved my life. That's the reality. You are at the age where
you start to experiment. Take it from me, you don't have to go
through with it. I struggled, I lost. I threw my life away. People
are dying every day from this."

Taunton police Detective Bob Kramer, a 12-year veteran, also spoke
about the dangers of opiates.

"I have seen how much drugs have damaged people, families and
communities. It all starts with one bad decision, one pill," said Kramer

Joanne Peterson, founder of Learning to Cope, a support group for
parents with children addicted to opiates, spoke about her son's drug
experiences.

"All of you kids are sitting here with your whole future in front of
you. Nick had no idea what he was heading for. The same with my son,"
said Peterson, who said it only takes 48 hours for the body to become
addicted to OxyContin.

"It took me to a place I never want to revisit. I had to have him
locked up," Peterson said about her son, who is now in recovery.

Several students said they were touched by the presentation, especially Saba's.

Seventeen-year-old Jason Wood said hearing about "real-life"
experiences made more of an impression on him.

"It was real. It wasn't just someone telling you. (Saba) lived
through it. He really realized how it ruined his life," said Wood, a sophomore.

Junior Brianna Torpey said she was moved by Saba's story.

"It was more personal when he talked about his own experience. It
made it more real. I think it was really effective. Kids seemed to be
really interested in it," said Torpey, 17.

During a question-and-answer segment with students, Saba, who almost
died twice from overdoses, was asked if he tried drugs in high school
because he felt like most students feel -- "like Superman."

"That's how you feel," he said, "But believe me, Superman doesn't exist."