Pubdate: Sun, 03 Apr 2005
Source: Allston-Brighton Tab (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Allston-Brighton Tab
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/allston/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3611
Author: Franceen Shaughnessy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

MOM SHOCKED TO LEARN 'TYPICAL' TEENAGE SON A JUNKIE

It was a typical suburban family. They bought the house of their
dreams outside of Boston and took family vacations. But Joanne
Peterson of Raynham soon found out that OxyContin, which is cited as
leading to heroin, had infiltrated her family and, according to
officials, she wasn't alone.

At an OxyContin and heroin forum for Allston-Brighton parents,
Peterson said that the past three years have been a roller coaster.

"In 2001, my son graduated from high school," she said. "I always
thought he would be a success and I still have hope for it. He thought
about college, but he was on the fence so he joined the National
Guard. He had all kinds of dreams."

He did very well in basic training, Peterson said. He came home and
had some free time to decide whether to join full time or remain in
the reserves.

"It didn't take long before I started to notice his looks changing,"
she said. "I was beginning to get concerned and then suddenly things
turned up missing in the home ... He was losing weight."

Smack in face

After questioning his girlfriend, Peterson said she learned her son
was on heroin.

"It was the most painful thing I've heard in my life," she said. "I
had no idea it was in my area. I was completely shocked."

Immediately, Peterson said, she began her battle to try to get her son
off the drugs.

In and out of rehab four or five times, she said, her son robbed a gas
station just to get enough money for another fix.

The incarceration helped him get off the drugs, she said. He got out
and lasted five months in a sober house until he relapsed again. That
was a violation of his probation, so he was sent back to jail. He got
out of jail, and she said she sent him to a program in New Hampshire.

He was doing very well, Peterson said. He got a job. She said he was
living with her mother but then he relapsed again.

He had lost 40 pounds, she said. "He was going to die. I tried to talk
him into a treatment center, but he said he can't do it."

Mom busts son

Seeing no other option to help save her son's life, Peterson said, she
made a call to have her son arrested in order to receive some
short-term help.

"I'm praying that he gets some long-term program," she said. "I'm out
of money. I have to let go and pray that he's ready this time."

Jerry McDermott, city councilor and co-chairman of the
Allston-Brighton Substance Abuse Task Force, said the idea for the
forum is to get parents talking and to acknowledge that there is a
problem with OxyContin and heroin in Allston-Brighton.

OxyContin is a semi-synthetic opiate, according to a release by the
task force. Heroin is an opiate, too, and opiates are addictive.

"You can't hope that it won't happen to your kid," McDermott said. "It
affects everybody in every family."

Capt. William Evans of the Brighton Police Department said the drug
problem affects Allston-Brighton residents who don't have kids as
well. These are the kids who are breaking into homes and cars to try
to find some money to support their habit, he said.

"We all have an invested interest in keeping [the drug problem] down,"
he said.

Mass. addiction

According to the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery,
the state ranks fourth in the nation of young adult drug use,
excluding marijuana. Boston Emergency Medical Services report that
there were 716 heroin overdoses for 2003, with 126 occurring in youths
age 15 to 24, and 193 between 25 and 34.

Deirdre Houtmeyers, of the St. Elizabeth Medical Center's
Comprehensive Addiction Program and co-chairwoman of the task force,
said few kids between the ages of 16 and 24 participated in the
program before 2001.

But then there was a huge spike of kids seeking treatment for
OxyContin dependence, quickly leading to heroin.

The kids would experiment with OxyContin, she said. They would alter
the property of the drug and then become instantly addicted to the
feeling it would give. OxyContin is very expensive so they would then
move onto heroin, a cheaper and easily accessible drug, she said.

"Nothing has been this frightening to us as what's going on now,"
Houtmeyers said. "The kids are from good families, but they try this
and then boom and life goes down rapidly."

Dee Iannacchione of the St. Elizabeth's addiction program said
families come into the program in total crisis. Kids come in at 17 and
they've been using drugs for the past three or four years, she said.

It starts with OxyContin and the pain medications, and then leads to
other drugs.

"We're trying to educate parents and kids," she said. "It's OK to be
able to talk about this. It's OK to ask these questions and call
because these young people are dying."

The aim is to get the awareness out and intervene long before the
addiction begins, she said.

Houtmeyers said her hope for the program is to communicate to the
youth as early and as much as possible, including holding a second
youth forum.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin