Pubdate: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 Source: Salem News (MA) Copyright: 2005 Essex County Newspapers Contact: http://www.salemnews.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3466 Author: Karen Andreas Referenced: Index -- Special on Opiate Use (Salem News) -- http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n042/a05.html OPIATES IN OUR TOWNS: ADDICTION SERIES TOUCHED MANY IN THE COMMUNITY My husband and I met an old friend for dinner recently. He apologized for arriving a little late, and for being a little tired. He had just returned from Cape Cod, he explained, where he had dropped off his 20-year-old son at a camp. A camp? An Outward Bound camp, he explained. His son, a recent graduate of Masconomet High School, wasn't doing so well. He had dropped out of college, couldn't keep a job, didn't know what to do with his life. It didn't sound like the Peter we knew. And I was worried. Moments later, after a little small talk, our friend broke down. "Peter's hooked on OxyContin," he blurted. "It's bad, really bad." I had heard the story before. Dozens of times before. I had been reading these stories daily, for weeks, as I edited our series about the OxyContin and heroin epidemic that has a grip on our youth on the North Shore. But this was different. This was my friend. This was his son. "OxyContin has stolen my son. It has stolen my son." He repeated the words over and over. After two hours of talking, my friend hugged me as we left, telling me he couldn't wait to read the Salem News series on this drug scourge. "This will be one of the most important stories your newspaper ever publishes," he said. I believe that to be true. For months a team of reporters, photographers and editors has been talking with young people, their parents, their teachers. We've had dozens of interviews with the district attorney, the sheriff, doctors and clinicians. But we knew our series would ring hollow without the compelling stories of the people affected by the drugs. People like 22-year-old Shawn Harnish of Salem, a Bishop Fenwick graduate who is now a heroin addict in jail. Peabody High graduate Andrew Moskevich, who credits his father with "saving his life" by turning him in to police for his OxyContin-driven crimes. Robert Bradley, the Marblehead attorney whose 18-year-old son died of a drug overdose. Herbert Levine, the school superintendent in Salem, whose son Joel is a recovering OxyContin addict. We thank each of them for their candor, for their courage, for their willingness to tell their stories to try to make a difference in someone else's life. Response to this series, published Jan. 6 and 7, has been encouraging. Some 1,200 people packed Salem High days after the series ran to hear Levine and his son talk about their personal experience. The Danvers School Committee has taken action, asking its superintendent to outline its drug education curriculum. Readers are phoning and e-mailing, commending the newspaper for its commitment to community journalism but reminding us that the stories must keep coming. And they will. Our intent is to keep this story, this OxyContin and heroin epidemic, front and center in this newspaper for as long as it takes to affect change. And change will only come when we as a community - parents, educators, lawmakers, law enforcement and the medical community - all admit there is a problem and work together to fight it. Limited copies are available of a special reprint of our series. Please contact me if you would like copies for your classroom, office, clinic or even your kitchen table. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth