DRUG TASK FORCE CHIEF SEEKING MORE FUNDING

MONTPELIER -- The Vermont State Police's drug task force needs more funding
for undercover officers to fight the growing use of illegal drugs, says its
new leader, Lt. Thomas L'Esperance.

And Vermont must provide more treatment for addicts, said L'Esperance, who
started his new job last week in Waterbury.

L'Esperance, 37, and a native of Lynn, Mass., worked with the State Police
in southern Vermont for a decade, most recently as commander of the
Rockingham barracks.

He's seen a dramatic change in the drug trade in just the last few years.

"What was once a stop where you would get 10 to 20 bags of heroin, which
would be a significant amount in the late 1990s, now it's not uncommon to
see officers taking 200, 300 bags at a time," L'Esperance said on
Wednesday. "It's kind of depressing."

The State Police drug task force was formed in 1987 to fight growing
problems with drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana. Its most recent
leader was Lt. James Colgan, who retired from the Vermont State Police this
summer.

Working out of the State Police headquarters in Waterbury, L'Esperance is
responsible for supervising a multi-agency drug task force that includes
deputy sheriffs and state troopers from all over Vermont.

L'Esperance did not want to reveal the number of officers he supervises.

Heroin is the biggest problem for police right now, he said Wednesday --
not because the cocaine problem has diminished, but because the heroin
supply is growing so rapidly.

A state report released earlier this year showed that drug crimes,
particularly those involving heroin, grew in 2001 as they did in past years.

Max Schlueter, director of the Vermont Crime Information Center, the
department that compiles and analyzes the state's crime data, said drug
crimes have risen an estimated 44 percent since 1997. Those crimes rose 14
percent in 2001. Arrests for heroin jumped from 9 percent in 1997 to 31
percent in 2001, he said. L'Esperance said heroin dealers can make a lot of
money in Vermont.

"You can buy a bag of heroin in Holyoke, Mass., for $5 and come up to
Vermont and sell it for $35 a bag," he said.

L'Esperance thinks police are making a dent in the problem, but he believes
they could do more if they had funding for more undercover officers and
other staff. The officers could investigate heroin and cocaine cases full
time, and have better success going after dealers, he said.

"I think police in general are underfunded right now," he said. "The
problem is bigger than us."

He also would like to see more money for prevention and treatment.

"I think that the drug problem itself may be underfunded; it's not just
enforcement," L'Esperance said. "We don't have enough rehabilitation
centers, methadone clinics."

The popularity of certain drugs moves in cycles, said Peter Lee, a former
alcohol and drug abuse counselor who now works as chief of treatment
services at the state health department's division of drug abuse and
alcohol programs.

Right now, heroin is popular among drug users because its purity allows
them to smoke or snort it instead of having to inject it, he said.

And many young people who would never use cocaine because they have learned
of its dangers did not develop the same aversion to heroin that their
elders did, he added.

"There are peaks and valleys in terms of popularity of one drug versus
another drug," Lee said. "Different generations don't have that cultural
memory about how bad heroin is ... and they're more susceptible to using it."