Pubdate: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2014 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340 Website: http://bostonglobe.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Author: Kevin McNamara THOSE IN GRIP OF ADDICTION NEED TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE ANSWERS Re "Hooked. Terrified. Trapped.": It doesn't sound as if UMass Amherst is taking this student's heroin overdose seriously. There should be signs all over the place about what happened to him. Wherever there are young people, there is access to all drugs. That's the deal everywhere and anywhere; make no mistake about it. The campus police should not be using these young people as informants. I really sympathize with what the police have to do, but these kids are too young to be caught up in it, as we clearly see in the case of the student in this story. He thought he was getting away with it, but he sounded a few days later as if he knew he really was not. My heart breaks for his family. This does not need to happen. There are people living drug-free for years after using heroin and dealing with the disease of addiction. It's not easy, but it definitely can be done. We should share more stories about such people so that others can know it's a real possibility. Kevin McNamara Cambridge - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom