IN WAKE OF BUSTS, ADDICTS AREN'T SEEKING HELP

BELFAST - In the wake of last week's major heroin seizure, law enforcement
officials, health-care providers and drug counselors braced for the
possibility of large numbers of addicts seeking treatment for withdrawal
symptoms.

As of Monday, that hadn't happened, said David Aho, substance abuse
counselor at Waldo County General Hospital.

"Somebody's filled in the gap," Aho said, who expressed surprise over how
quickly the heroin supply on the street seems to have been rebuilt.

It is also possible, Aho said, that the addicts deprived of their usual fix
chose to endure the withdrawal symptoms, which can be severely unpleasant,
but not life-threatening, rather than seek medical help and thereby call
attention to their habit.

Those who seek treatment for drug addiction at WCGH's Emergency Room are
referred to counseling programs, said ER Nursing Supervisor Elsa Estabrook.

"We hadn't seen heroin until a couple of years ago. There's definitely an
increasing problem," she said.Heroin users often suffer from cellulitis, an
infection of the skin caused by repeated use of nonsterilized needles, she
said.

In the last couple of years, Estabrook said local health-care providers
have dealt with a couple of drug overdoses.Officials in Portland and
Lewiston are reporting a spike in what they believe are deaths due to
heroin-related overdoses.

Patterns of heroin use and addiction have undergone changes in recent
years, Aho said. It "wasn't that long ago," he said that people seeking
treatment for heroin addiction picked up their habit while living out of state.

Now, said Aho, the addicted population consists of people who acquired the
habit here in Waldo County, and at a younger age."We used to talk to kids
about marijuana, now we have to talk to them about heroin," he said.

Although the youngest addict Aho has counseled was about 15 years old, most
are in their late teens and early 20s.

"Not every user is an addict," said Aho, who reported an increase in
"recreational" heroin use.In general, about 10 percent of any given
population will consist of "addictive personalities" liable to some form of
substance abuse.

That percentage is substantially higher inside the county jail, Aho said.
The number of addicts in the general population, he said, is increasing too.

"Some people can walk away if they're snorting," he said. "It's easier to
take it or leave it - at first!"Continued use will lead to addiction, however.

Aho said changing societal attitudes contribute to the growing heroin
problem. "The culture has been set up for it," he said. "We were told that
marijuana was good for us, a gift from God and even harmless, and that's
not true. The American Medical Association described cocaine as a harmless
recreational drug in 1977," Aho said. "And now some people are led to
believe that heroin is not that bad, not that dangerous."

Cocaine, which was prevalent in the area during the 1980s, is having a
comeback of sorts, Aho said, mixed with heroin into a potent and dangerous
concoction known as "speedballs."

Law enforcement officials have estimated the "Red Devil" brand heroin is
about 60 percent pure, much stronger than the drugs found just a few years
before, which probably contained approximately 15 percent of the opiate per
dose. The more potent heroin can lead more quickly to addiction.

Why are young people flirting with a powerful addictive drug well-known to
be detrimental?

"Why would anybody ever pick up a cigarette, knowing what we know about
them," Aho asked rhetorically. Some, he said, are "thrill seekers"
deliberately indulging in forbidden fruit.

The social context can also contribute to an acceptance of what may be
considered taboo in other social circles. "I had a healthy fear of the drug
until I went to Vietnam, then it was OK," said Aho, who described himself
as "in recovery."

By 1970, some 65,000 American troops were believed to be using some kind of
drugs, including heroin and opium, easily obtained on the Saigon black market.

Aho said heroin was "dumped" into the Waldo County market early on, to
build up a demand."I'd talk to kids about heroin being very expensive and
they'd say, 'No it's real cheap,'" he recalled. The sudden increase in
heroin use "caught me by surprise," he said.

Aho put last week's bust into a grim perspective. "I know people who are
doing 10 or 15 bags a day. You multiply that by 20 addicts, and 1,700 bags
doesn't go far," he said.