Pubdate: Fri, 20 May 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:  Cyndi Roy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

STRATEGY OFFERED TO DEAL WITH STATE'S DRUG ABUSE  EPIDEMIC

With substance abuse reaching epidemic proportions in Massachusetts, Lt. 
Gov. Kerry Healey unveiled a plan Monday that funds additional treatment 
services, targets methamphetamine sales, and calls for assistance to school 
districts that test students for drugs.

Massachusetts  is among the top 5 percent of states with the highest drug 
and alcohol abuse  rates. The Bay State ranks number one for Oxycontin and 
heroin use. In 1996,  there were 200 opiate-related fatal overdoses, a 
number that jumped to 449  statewide in 2003. And among teens admitted for 
substance abuse treatment, they  were experimenting with the drug at an 
average age of 13. Healey and  other public health officials said there is 
no single reason behind those unwanted rankings, but said a persistent 
denial of the problem likely fuels its  prevalence.

Healey  shared the administration's plan with members of the Legislature's 
new Committee  on Mental Health and Substance abuse before discussing it a 
scheduled press  conference Monday morning.

"One thing  that came out of my discussion with committee members that 
occurred earlier this  morning is the urgency of this problem," she said. 
"We cannot afford to wait any  longer to take action on these items." 
The  administration's 93-page strategic plan focuses on identifying, 
treating and  preventing drug use in schools, something which Healey and a 
bipartisan group of  lawmakers joining with her said has long been 
overlooked. The plan calls for the  state to assist communities with the 
implementation of drug testing on high  school students and establishes two 
"sobriety high schools" in Boston and Springfield, where students 
recovering from drug addiction could continue their  rehab while finishing 
their education. Tolman delighted States like  Minnesota have run sobriety 
high schools for more than a decade, said Sen.  Steven Tolman, D-Brighton, 
cochairman of the committee. Tolman, who  two weeks ago demanded that the 
administration set a date for releasing its  long-awaited plan, joined with 
Healey to support the proposal. He commended the  administration for 
including in the plan the establishment of sobriety high  schools.

"Anybody  who wants to pretend that we don't have a problem in every one of 
our  communities with Oxycontin and heroin belongs on Mars," Tolman said. 
"It is  outrageous. Most of the children that are coming out of detox, 
we're finding,  when they're put back in their environment, are failing." 
According  to Healey, 90 percent of students who attend a sobriety school 
after rehab  graduate. Ninety-percent of those who come out of treatment 
programs and go back to their old schools fail, she said.

The  strategic plan is predicated on legislative approval of $9.1 million 
included in  a supplemental budget filed by the administration earlier this 
year. Healey said  the money would help 6,000 to 8,000 more drug users in 
need of rehab services,  and attract $14.5 million in federal matching 
funds. Tolman said  he expects lawmakers to approve the funds within the 
next two to three  weeks.

More on  prevention The state  spends more than $250 million a year on 
substance abuse treatment programs, with  prevention accounting for just 11 
percent of those funds. But the state's  existing system of prevention and 
treatment is haphazard, Healey said, spread  across 13 state agencies that 
don't communicate with each other. More than 82,000 Massachusetts residents 
received drug abuse treatment services last year.  It's estimated another 
40,000 sought treatment but were denied because of a lack  of resources, 
according to a recent Brandeis University study. Salem  Schools 
Superintendent Herbert Levine attended the press conference and lauded  the 
administration's proposals, adding that Salem is close to implementing 
its  own drug-testing program.

Levine's  20-year-old son Joel is a recovering Oxycontin addict, who told 
his father he  would have never tried the drug if the schools he attended 
had randomly tested  students.

"I don't  think that student drug-testing is necessarily the answer to all 
the problems,"  Levine said. "We know that that's not the case. But it's an 
answer. It's another  arrow in the quiver for us in education to be able to 
help parents. " As part of  the plan, Gov. Mitt Romney also filed 
legislation that gives prosecutors new  tools to crack down on 
methamphetamine. The bill contains a list of chemicals  that can be used to 
manufacture meth, as it is known, and possession of any one,  or 
combination of, these chemicals with intent to manufacture or distribute 
will  constitute a felony offense punishable up to five years in prison and 
up to  $20,000 in fines.

"I think  all of you probably know the devastation that methamphetamine has 
been causing  in other parts of the country," Healey said. "It has been 
marching toward us  from the West Coast. It's currently devastating the 
Midwest. We can see that it  will soon reach our borders."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman