Source: Dallas Morning News Contact: Pubdate: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 Plano residents battle deadly drug Police crack down, while others try educational approach By Linda Stewart Ball / The Dallas Morning News PLANO Every Sunday, Mass at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Plano ends with an update on the number of young adults who have died from heroin. Members of the 17,000member parish also are told where they can call for information about the heroin problem. It's taken 10 deaths, but some Plano residents are starting to acknowledge that heroin has come to their city. "Everybody is very interested and very concerned about what's going on, especially the young people," said Jim Geller, director of youth ministries at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Residents are working on a variety of fronts from the pulpit and classrooms to police and city hospitals to find ways to keep more of their young from dying. Plano police started seeing their first heroin cases last year. "A closeknit group of people started using it, and they introduced it to their friends and they introduced it to their friends, and it spread by word of mouth," said Sgt. A.D. Paul. On Sept. 5, Plano Police Chief Bruce Glasscock announced the formation of a multiagency task force, which includes Drug Enforcement Administration agents, to help crack down on suppliers. Authorities say they are prosecuting dealers and busting users when they're caught holding heroin, no matter their age. Others advocate a different approach treatment and education rather than punishment for youthful offenders. "What we now have to do is shift away from a punitive system for addicts and move toward a treatment or medical model for individuals who are addicts," said Dr. Robert Taylor, chairman of the department of criminal justice at the University of North Texas. Families with insurance or who can afford to pay for private treatment are sending their heroinaddicted children elsewhere often outofstate because Plano has no longterm facility. Joslyn Kitchens says she lost her 17yearold son, Jason Blair, last year, in part, because she couldn't afford to send him to an inpatient program. Such treatment can cost as much as $1,500 a day. Ms. Kitchens said she wished she had trusted her "gut feelings" and sought out the expensive treatment. "I'd probably be homeless, but my son would be alive," said Ms. Kitchens, who moved from Plano to Frisco a few months before Jason died to get him into a safer, smaller school environment. "The kids we're seeing here are, for the most part, bright kids from very good families," said Dr. Larry Alexander, an emergency room physician at Columbia Medical Center in Plano. "They don't realize that one use can and may kill them." As a result, it's not unusual for him to find unconscious teens dropped off at the hospital in the middle of the night by panicked friends who "bang on the door screaming, 'They're not breathing! They're not breathing!' " he said. "A lot of these kids are living in homes that may be pretty decent, but the families don't realize what they're doing to contribute to the drug abuse," said Sabina Stern of the Collin County Substance Abuse Program. "It may be something simple, like giving their children money whenever they ask, or the parents aren't around or they don't know where their child is." Rick Hooker, the Safe and Drug Free Schools coordinator for the Plano Independent School District, has spent a lot of time at PTA meetings trying to make parents and teachers more aware of heroin's dangers. But he stressed that the vast majority of Plano students, "the silent majority," is not involved with drugs. "We need to empower them to take a more positive leadership role in intervening with some of their friends." A Sept. 18 forum about heroin drew a standingroomonly crowd of 350 people at City Hall. Charter Behavioral Health Systems and Plano school officials are planning another heroinawareness forum in a larger venue this fall. The school district reevaluated its drug prevention program this summer and has done some finetuning. It also hired a drug counselor to replace what used to be an "atrisk specialist" for its two senior high schools. Drug counselors already are at some of the other schools. They spearhead intervention and prevention programs and help young people who have gone away for treatment make the transition back into the classroom, said Larry Guinn, executive director of student services for the school district. "Are we doing enough? Probably not. But at least we're trying, we're looking at it, and it is a priority of everybody in this community," Mr. Guinn said. Church leaders also are starting to speak up. "Although our teenagers are smart enough to help each other protect themselves, we need to help them, to let them know we care about them, to set boundaries and draw some limits in the amount of competition we foster," said Don Underwood, senior pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano. He has buried two young members of his congregation because of heroin overdoses. When Mr. Underwood arrived in Plano 15 years ago, the community was grappling with a wave of teen suicides. Then, because many feared some of the suicides were copycats, community leaders remained quiet to protect their teens, he said. "But the opposite mentality needs to take place," Mr. Underwood said. "Our children need to realize that they're dying from heroin. That it's there. It's lethal. And in the eyes of the heroin dealer, they're just worth $10."