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FIRST H.E.A.T.  DRUG PREVENTION SESSION DRAWS 350

WOBURN - Some 350 court personnel and law enforcement officers converged on Hilton Hotel in East Woburn for a H.E.A.T.  ( Heroin Education Awareness Task Force ) Conference including a powerful contingent from the Philadelphia Police Department.

And, throughout the day, the focus was clearly on the Philadelphia PD and individuals like Sgt.  Thomas Gleeson, who held area police and court officers spellbound by story-after-story on drug abuse and its consequences.

The focus of the program was prevention including those to address all types of drug problems from heroin and cocaine to marijuana and to the abuse of prescription drugs.

The event was a first of a kind in this area in an effort driven by Woburn court officers in the presence of Acting Chief Probation Officer Vincent Piro and Probation Officer Michael Higgins.  Both have spoken to numerous area police and civic groups on education and prevention.

While its the HEAT program in Philadelphia, it's H.E.A.T.  generating from the Woburn court.  Police came from the Woburn court's jurisdiction area from Burlington, Reading, North Reading, Stoneham, Winchester, Wilmington and Woburn.

"It's all about education," said Sgt.  Gleeson at the start of the afternoon session.  "There's nothing funny about it.  You have to keep your heads up," he said firmly.

In turn, he showed a presentation entitled: "Dead of Summer."

In a no-holds-barred presentation, the blood-spilled lives of victims of deadly drugs was in evidence for over two hours in his presentation, including first-hand accounts by three parents who lost children tragically to drugs.  All said they felt helpless, as they tried to curb its use.

"It's all about choices," barked Gleeson at another juncture.  "Senseless drug deaths and drug deals gone wrong.  There are all kinds of excuses."

Added to the fact, he said, drugs today are "much, much more powerful than when we were kids."

In addition, others are killed or hurt, he said, as he showed how an engineer on a railroad in Canada on marijuana killed four Canadian Mounties.

Items like alcohol didn't escape his wrath either.  "There's also medication just hanging around houses and the kids sell it and that makes them drug dealers," he warned at another juncture, stressing education as being very important in all area.

In some of his presentations to kids and others, he passes around a black plastic body bag.  It is effective and raises the consciousness of everyone "and you would be surprised how many people refuse to handle it!"

"I ask the groups: what will your obituary read?" he intoned at another point.  The mindless, senseless deaths, he said, can be avoided with education.

District Attorney Gerry Leone

Among those speaking was Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone.

Special Agent Todd Prough of the U.S.  Drug Enforcement Administration and Mass.  State Trooper Steve Mullaney, a state police drug recognition expert, were also speakers at the day-long conference.

In recent months, a bonding has occurred between the Woburn District Court personnel and the Philadelphia PD, including a visit by Woburn personnel in April to experience first hand their program in Philadelphia.

A host of subjects were covered in the intense day-long effort, including drug recognition, profiling of an overdose, a probation department's approach to addiction and treatment.

The main thrust of the meeting and sessions was to use Philadelphia as a model of attacking drug problems from a preventative standpoint.

Veteran police and court officers have come to realize in this area in the past year the importance of presenting a "no-holds barred outlook on the true damage and destruction that drugs are causing young and old alike."

Technically, the session was billed as "The First Annual Conference on Heroin Problems Facing our Communities Today." The conference also reached out to others such as school administrators, nurses, counselors and teachers.

DA Leone highlighted the importance of prevention and intervention strategies as well as techniques that can be used by parents, teachers, police, court officers and others in spotting signs of abuse and offer assistance.

In his keynote remarks, Leone noted:

"The problems of addiction confront so many of our young people - impacting not only themselves but the families and our communities.

"That is why it is critical for all of us to come together to coordinate on prevention and intervention strategies while also focusing on rehabilitation and treatment efforts on comprehensively addressing this pressing issue."

Leone, who has been a professional prosecutor, cites his own record of combating drugs through prosecution, intervention and rehabilitation strategies.

In fact, Leone began his career in the Roxbury District Court in the early 1990s during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, where as a young prosecutor, he prosecuted many drug-related offenses.

He also noted he moved on to the Middlesex DA's office and the U.S.  Attorney's office in a similar role.

Community-based programs, he had noted, are very important and creating awareness like the Woburn conference is essential.

Leone pointed to his own efforts in implementing and running the Middlesex Community Based Justice ( CBJ ) Program that became a national model for preventing kids from ending up in the justice system.

This program is still in effect, especially in schools in the county, and allows Assistant District Attorneys "to become ingrained in those communities - gaining an intimate knowledge of the neighborhoods, maintaining continuity in cases and providing a consistent voice and contact with the DA's office."

The large forum also gave providers a chance to show their rehabilitation programs, such as the Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare program ( www.suboxone.com )and CAP Health & Recovery Services ( www.cabhealth.org )

For local help:

P.O.  Mike Higgins

781-935-4000 X267