Pubdate: Sun, 08 Jan 2006
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Section: Northwest Regional Edition, Front Page
Copyright: 2006 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Joyce Pellino  Crane, Globe Correspondent
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
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)

GROUP COMBATS DRUG USE

Abuse Panel Gains Residents' Support

It wasn't the discovery of a methamphetamine drug lab in town or any 
troubling drug statistics that set Phillip French on a mission to 
stem substance abuse. Instead, it was a personal epiphany of sorts 
that coincided with his 2004 election to Tewksbury's Board of Health.

French, the father of four grown children, had never served on a town 
board before. But after being elevated to chairman in April, French 
said, he realized  he could bring some health issues to the 
forefront. So, teaming with Board of Health member Christine Kinnon, 
French put out a call in June for residents to join the town's 
substance abuse committee and assembled a board of directors made up 
of key community leaders, including Wynn Middle School assistant 
principal John Donoghue.

Though it has taken nearly six months, the group -- called Tewksbury 
Community Activists for Resources, Education, and Services --  is 
finding direction and now has about 20 committee members and seven 
board  members, he said. "There's a lot of people willing to do 
things when they know the cause is right," said French.

The committee's progress demonstrates how an ordinary citizen can 
make an impact in a town. And aided by the expertise of the 
Lawrence-based Northeast Center for Healthy Communities, the 
Tewksbury committee can provide lessons on how a town can organize 
coalitions to build awareness of substance abuse. Tami 
Gouveia-Vigeant, a social worker at the center, said she has 
counseled in Lawrence, Andover, and Medford on substance abuse. 
However, she said, her three years with the Tewksbury program, which 
originated at the Greater Lawrence  Family Health Center, represent 
her first ground-floor experience. "What's great about working with 
Tewksbury," she said, "is we forged a relationship with Phil French 
and the Substance Abuse Committee right when they were forming. We 
were able to offer our services right when they were starting,  and 
they were really receptive to working with us." "Communities don't 
need to reinvent the wheel as they think of this," said Michael 
Botticelli, assistant commissioner for substance abuse services at 
the state Department of Public Health. Organizations like the 
Northeast center "can  provide a template and framework so 
communities aren't floundering and wasting  time. . . . We know what 
makes effective coalitions." Among the people expressing support for 
the Tewksbury group is Deacon Bill Emerson, a former School Committee 
member and current chaplain for the Middlesex  sheriff's office.

Emerson had chaired a Tewksbury-based substance abuse awareness group 
during the administration of Governor Michael S. Dukakis. As a former 
director of religious education at Saint Williams Catholic Church, 
Emerson has seen, firsthand, the effects of drugs and alcohol on 
young adults. Emerson said he is worried about the proliferation of 
cheap heroin and the prescription pain reliever OxyContin in suburban 
communities. The initial euphoria induced by these opiates eventually 
yields to a relentless gnawing as addiction grabs hold. The users, he 
said, fool themselves  into thinking they can ingest such drugs 
without consequence. "I see that most kids using [OxyContin] don't 
see the fact that it's as addictive as it really is," said Emerson. 
"They think they can do it and stop. I think the education can really 
help. There needs to be a more concerted effort  to educate kids about drugs."

Tewksbury's admissions to state-funded drug-treatment programs were 
lower than the overall state rate, according to statistics from the 
Massachusetts Department of Public Health. But Emerson said his work 
with young adults has convinced him that the drug problem in town is 
not to be taken lightly. "I obviously think something has to be 
done," he said. "I think we do have a drug problem, and it's growing 
every day."

According to Gouveia-Vigeant, substance-abuse rates do not vary much 
from one community to the next.

"What we generally see," she said, "is that the rates in Tewksbury 
are comparable to the rates in Andover, which are comparable to the 
rates in Lowell, which are comparable to the rates in Lawrence."

Misuse of OxyContin, for example, "is prevalent with young adults" in 
Tewksbury, said French. "The 19- to 30-year-olds seem to have a 
strong appetite for this. We've had a number of incidents in town 
that shows this OxyContin problem is there."

Though French and Kinnon are willing to lead the new coalition, they 
admitted to floundering initially.

French said the sluggish start generated criticism among some 
committee members, who were facing substance-abuse problems in their 
families and wanted quick relief. The criticism stung, said French, 
but did not deter him. A newspaper announcement seeking committee 
members caught the attention of Gouveia-Vigeant, who called to offer 
her services.

Her group, one of six state-funded centers that support 
community-based substance abuse coalitions, works with local 
organizations to improve a community's health by building coalitions, 
collecting and analyzing community  health data, and developing and 
implementing health programs. It serves more  than 50 municipalities, 
including Andover, Billerica, Chelmsford, Lawrence,  Lowell, Medford, 
Methuen, North Andover, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham, 
Tyngsborough, and Westford.

 From Gouveia-Vigeant, French learned of funding sources that could 
boost the Tewksbury coalition's information and educational 
resources. French's group is  in the running for a $10,000 privately 
funded grant that would cover the cost of  surveying residents about 
drug use, conducting focus groups, and interviewing  community 
leaders and residents. French said he expects a decision by next  week.

Even more significant, said Gouveia-Vigeant, is a $100,000 federal 
grant to be decided next September. The money would allow the group 
to hire a coordinator  who would act as a spokesman and publicly 
address students and community groups  about the pitfalls of 
substance abuse, she said. The Northeast center teaches that 
substance abuse does not typically start with hard drugs but with 
more entry-level substances. "You can't look at heroin, OxyContin, 
and methamphetamine in a bubble," Gouviea-Vigeant said. "There are 
other common substances that are contributing factors, and those 
substances are tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana." Police in the 
northwest suburbs also are voicing concerns about the discovery over 
a six-month period of three makeshift drug laboratories that were 
producing  methamphetamine -- a concoction of cold medicine such as 
Sudafed and other  household items to form a crystallized powder that 
stimulates the nervous system. One lab was discovered in October at 
Tewksbury's Caswell Hotel. Others were discovered in Chelmsford and Lowell.

With methamphetamine labs spreading in Western and Midwestern states, 
Emerson thinks the local finds are just the tip of the iceberg. "I 
think the police have done a great job in discovering the ones they 
know about," he said, "but how many more are out there?" For more 
than 30 years, French has worked behind the counter at his French's 
Restaurant on Main Street, watching teenagers and young adults come 
and go. According to Kinnon, French's is one of the most popular 
restaurants in town, and gave its owner a vantage point from which 
substance abuse problems were painfully apparent.

French "was seeing young people in trouble," she said. "He said he'd 
like to get a group going to address substance-abuse awareness in 
Tewksbury. I said,  'That sounds good to me. . . . We might be able 
to make a difference. Get something started.' "

Though he is being credited with getting things rolling, French is 
not sure where the efforts will lead.

"I'm just trying to spearhead this and make it become a reality," he 
said. "I don't know what good my efforts are, but I know no effort is 
no good." Tewksbury CARES meets every first and  third Thursday of 
the month at 5:30 p.m. at Town  Hall.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman