Police Chief, Councilor Support Criminalizing Public Pot Smoking, but Mayor Opposes It

HAVERHILL - City Council is expected soon to vote on a proposal to toughen the penalty for anyone caught smoking marijuana in public, including making it a criminal offense and increasing the fine from $100 to $300.

The proposed local law has the backing of police Chief Alan DeNaro and several city councilors, but not Mayor James Fiorentini.

The mayor said he would likely veto any ordinance that criminalizes the offense or increases the fine.

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The number of teenagers who are drivin drunk or with friends who are drunk is rising, according to survey of high-schoolers that is given each year

Other behaviors that have increased include physical fighting, damaging or destroying someone else's property and sniffing common household aerosol products to get high.

Use of hard drugs by Haverhill high-schoolers increased slightly, continuing a trend that began three years ago.

One in four teenagers said they had driven with a drunken driver in the month prior to when they completed the survey, and one in 10 said they had driven drunk themselves within 30 days of taking the survey.

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HAVERHILL - School Committee member Scott W. Wood Jr. says the governor's proposal to give schools money for student drug testing will strengthen efforts to bring testing to Haverhill High School.

Wood said there are two major concerns among critics on a task force studying ways to fight drug use among teenagers: How the cash-starved school district would pay for testing and follow-up counseling, and whether the district could defend a legal challenge or lawsuit resulting from such a program. "It definitely adds credibility that the governor and lieutenant governor think drug testing is a good idea," said Wood, the chairman of the task force. "It's also helpful that more and more communities are looking at this." Most members of Wood's task force have said they are not inclined to support drug testing. They have raised concerns over the legalities, costs and impacts that testing would have on relationships between teachers and students. This week Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey unveiled Gov. Mitt Romney's proposal to give about $100,000 to each school participating in testing. About $20,000 would pay for the tests, which would require parental consent. The remaining $80,000 would pay for substance abuse counseling.

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HAVERHILL -- Some high school students who took a survey that shows an increase in drug use by teenagers don't believe it is accurate. They say the annual survey is not taken seriously by their peers, who often fail to answer questions accurately.

But officials in charge of the study say the results are reliable and consistent with the previous year's findings.

The School Committee formed a task force last month to consider random or suspicion-based drug testing at the high school.

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HAVERHILL -- More city teens are saying they have used hard drugs -- cocaine, heroin, LSD or ecstasy -- at least once in the last month, according to a survey of high-schoolers released yesterday.

But Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said the way to fight the teen drug problem is not to subject students to random drug testing as has been proposed by School Committeeman Scott Wood. Blodgett said education is the key. "I don't see drug testing as being the solution," Blodgett said. Wood proposed random or suspicion-based drug testing of students, in part because of the results of last year's survey showing increase in drug use. A task force made up of educators, officials and parents is now discussing ways to combat drug use including drug testing.

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Task force not sold on drug tests HAVERHILL -- The majority of members of a task force studying ways to fight drug use at the high school have yet to be sold on testing students, but the chairman of the group believes some kind of drug testing will eventually be recommended.

Three of 12 members at the group's second meeting last night said they are strongly opposed to any kind of testing and want the panel to instead pursue only education and counseling programs to combat what all the members agreed is a growing drug problem at the high school.

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HAVERHILL -- Mayor James J. Fiorentini said he may support testing of students suspected of drug use, as the city looks for ways to deal with the problem at Haverhill High School.

If a task force studying ways to curb drug use recommends the tests, the mayor said he will consider backing that recommendation. He is the chairman of the School Committee, which has to approve the testing for it to happen. When the committee created the drug task force last month, Fiorentini said he has not seen any proof that student drug use was on the rise at the high school. He attended a drug forum last week in Lawrence, where Haverhill Detective Sgt. John Arahovites said the city is having "a serious problem" with heroin use and addiction among adults and younger people. Yesterday, the mayor said Arahovites' comments, along with similar ones made by law enforcement officials across the Merrimack Valley, were "troublesome and disconcerting." "It's clear drug use by teens and by adults is a serious problem that we can't afford to ignore," the mayor said yesterday. "I am 100 percent behind the task force. I'm looking forward to seeing their recommendations and hearing what they have to say."

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HAVERHILL - Schoo Committeman Scott W. Wood Jr. firmly believes drug testing is the best way to fight drug use by students. At first, he favored random testing of kids involved in after-school sports. But now, Wood says testing students who teachers or administrators have reason to believe are using drugs may be a better way to go. He also said allowing parents opposed to drug testing to exclude their children might be a good compromise for those opposed to the idea.

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HAVERHILL -- Saying there is a growing drug problem at Haverhill High, School Committeeman Scott W. Wood Jr. wants the city to consider random drug testing of students and athletes.

"There is a drug problem in Haverhill and as elected officials we should not bury our heads in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist," said Woods, a 2002 Haverhill High School graduate "There needs to be consequences and a mechanism to deal with drug use by students. In my opinion, it takes education combined with punishment to keep kids off drugs."

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HAVERHILL -- A controversial proposal to randomly test Haverhill High School students and athletes for drugs is drawing both ire and support from those most likely to be tested.

"It's degrading that they would want to do that. They are treating us like we are all rowdy teenagers doing bad things," said student council president and swim team captain Christine Fitzpatrick, 18.

"There are some jobs and some places where drug testing is required, but public school shouldn't be one of them. The students need to be shown more respect -- not less."

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