I'm a retired corrections officer and substance abuse counselor, and I'm tired of hearing the same reasons as to why we shouldn't legalize marijuana that we've been hearing for the past 40 years. Massachusetts has a special opportunity to improve public safety and limit marijuana access to the young and at-risk. Marijuana is not harmless, and given my background in substance abuse counseling, I am firmly against any kind of substance abuse. However, marijuana prohibition and its consequences on individuals, families, and communities are far worse than using the drug. [continues 385 words]
The Sun should get an award for the most inaccurate and backwards thinking editorial ("Colorado"s New High Not For Massachusetts," Jan. 5) regarding Colorado relegalizing cannabis (marijuana). We haven't "made it easier for cartels;" the cartels hate regulation and thrive without it. Make no mistake, people know what they're getting. There is no medical "prescriptions" necessary or available. $25 per ounce doesn't exist within Colorado borders. All the bureaucratic expense will be paid for by cannabis store fees and the high taxes paid when citizens purchase cannabis. Does The Sun really believe underage people have had any trouble acquiring cannabis in the underground market in the last eight decades? A sane or moral argument to continue caging responsible adults for using the God-given plant (see the first page of the Bible) doesn't exist. Dillon, Colo. [end]
I am writing in response to the editorial on Sunday, Jan. 5, about pot in Massachusetts, particularly the line that asks will children be confused about what their parents are doing. Obviously they are not confused about daddy drinking beers every night and all weekend or about mom's martinis with her friends. They are not confused by drinking because in our society it's OK to drink daily; it's OK to be drunk. I don't advocate that kids should smoke, just like I don't think they should drink. [continues 419 words]
The concerns for society and the children expressed in "Colorado's new high not for Massachusetts" editorial (The Sun, Jan. 5) ignores two indisputable facts: no matter marijuana's legal status, adults and kids who want it will find a way to get it from those willing to supply it; and, according to surveys of Massachusetts High School students, a majority never try it. The first fact implicates the fundamental issue of government: the "consent of the governed." The second, the claim children have a latent desire to use marijuana, is a delusion. Yet it is true Massachusetts should not copy Colorado's way of ending a prohibition that never should have been. Instead, the Bay State should allow adults to engage in the cultivation, commerce and consumption of marijuana as they may with any other herb. Require adults take steps to prevent access to growing plants and marijuana by children and punish distribution to minors with significant jail time and/or fine. Such a policy would seek our shared goal of suppressing access to marijuana by children in a constitutionally proper and fiscally responsible manner. STEVEN S. EPSTEIN Georgetown Editor's note: Attorney Steven S. Epstein helped establish the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition in 1989, and more recently helped establish Bay State Repeal, a state ballot question committee dedicated to the repeal of prohibition in 2016. [end]
Good luck to the people of Colorado. They've made it easier for drug cartels to tap into their children's latent desire to experiment with marijuana. Adults 21 and older now can buy marijuana legally for recreational use in Colorado. As of Thursday, residents and visitors can go to a state-regulated pot center, ask for an ounce or less, and pay the over-the-counter price. Just like the Obamacare rollout, no one knows exactly what they're getting; Colorado hasn't established a price structure, leading one Denver shop to sell one-eighth of an ounce of "high-quality" marijuana for $70. That's in sharp contrast to state-licensed pot centers filling medical prescriptions at $25 an ounce. [continues 270 words]
TEWKSBURY -- The government's attempt to seize the Motel Caswell under federal drug-forfeiture laws was dismissed Thursday by a federal judge who found police made no effort to work with or warn the property's owner. U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein found that the property was not subject to forfeiture and that Russ Caswell, proprietor of the budget motel on Route 38, met all the qualifications of an "innocent owner" who did not know of or consent to drug crimes taking place on his property. [continues 751 words]
BOSTON -- Attorneys from Arlington-Va.-based Institute for Justice argued Monday afternoon before a judge in U.S. District Court that the federal government's civil-forfeiture case against the Motel Caswell is unconstitutional Attorneys Scott Bullock and Lawrence Salzman argued that the case violates both the 10th and 8th amendments to the constitution in court, and they asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein, for a motion for summary judgment that would dismiss the case completely before it went to a jury trial. [continues 723 words]
I am a 13-year member of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition/NORML. Question 2 came about because we built a "house" with 19 years of toil, and the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy/ Marijuana Policy Project sold it. A sincere thank you to the voters who approved. As free people, we are not thrilled with paying a fine, but we will defend this bill from Beacon Hill tampering. This is both a momentous occasion, and a baby step. The children are protected, now the adults will have our day. We are not criminals, and we are sick of being told that we are. Please refer to the First and 10th Amendments. Step two will be a medical bill, and beyond, someday, a national Amsterdam-style distribution and tax system. The gateway theory? Please! This is, in fact, a smokescreen for law-enforcement job security. If anyone is troubled by these events, I would suggest that you move to Singapore or Thailand, where people like me are executed. Freedom is normal! Michael Maloney [end]
WOBURN -- While the district attorney in Springfield has vowed to drop all pending charges of possessing an ounce or less of marijuana in the wake of the passage of Question 2 on Tuesday, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said he will make such decisions individually. "Until the new law is implemented, we will evaluate each pending matter on a case-by-case basis,'' Leone said yesterday. "In general, as was the case prior to this new law, the presumption will be that defendants charged with mere possession of marijuana without any other criminal charges or prior record are to have their case continued without a finding or resolved with pretrial probation,'' he said. Hampden District Attorney William Bennett announced Wednesday that he wants to honor the spirit of the ballot initiative, which makes possession of an ounce or less of marijuana punishable with a civil fine of $100. The law will take effect in late December or early January, officials said. "I'm going to act as if the law were in effect now," Bennett told The Republican in Springfield. [continues 180 words]
LOWELL -- While she does not line up completely with the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition, (SHaRC) Green Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross does agree the state is throwing good money after bad. "Part of what worries me and part of the reason I'm running for governor is that we've heard all the rhetoric, but the state is still paying $43,000 a year for a prisoner who needs a rehab bed," Ross said. "It's the policy issues at the state level that have me concerned. There are basic solutions that we are not looking at." [continues 478 words]
There is a war raging in America, and it may be the most important war we will fight in the coming years. But it's not a war against terrorism, drugs or AIDS. It's a war against free speech, primarily religious free speech. Let me give you some examples. The microphone was unplugged by school officials when a high school valedictorian began talking about Jesus Christ. An instrumental version of "Ave Maria" was eliminated by school officials because it might be religious. A city councilman was told that he cannot end his prayers in Jesus' name, while other council members can pray as they see fit. These are all examples of individuals who were simply expressing their First Amendment right to free speech -- religious free speech. Until recent years, this was protected speech. But things seem to be going from bad to worse. A recent court decision dismissing the case of a rock band that was discriminated against because of its members' religious beliefs highlights the problem. [continues 641 words]
BOSTON -- Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday vetoed a bill that would allow for the sale of hypodermic needles without prescription, saying it could help promote heroin use and send the wrong message to young people. Romney said the bill, which proponents hope will stem the spread of blood-borne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C, would have had "unintended consequences" such as encouraging more widespread heroin use. "We cannot in good conscience say that we should make needles more available to heroin addicts," Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey said at a press conference. "It sends the wrong message, and it facilitates our very deadly plague of heroin abuse." [continues 500 words]
WESTFORD -- A Stony Brook Middle School nurse says teachers, guidance counselors and nurses repeatedly reported their concerns about former teacher Jessica Palkes' possible drug problem to the school's principals well over two years ago. But School Superintendent Stephen Foster says he didn't learn of Palkes' heroin problem until her arrest this past January. Yesterday, the principals weren't talking. And neither was Foster. In an "open statement to the Westford Community," Stony Brook nurse Sally Pratt wrote in a letter that the school staff reported their concerns about Palkes to Stony Brook Principal Joan Barry and Assistant Principal Joe Jette as far back as September 2003, long before Palkes' Jan. 6, 2006, arrest on heroin charges. [continues 605 words]
For decades, marijuana has offered forbidden pleasure to its users, but a sobering penalty when caught. Last week, a state legislative committee took the first step toward lessening the sting for those caught with small amounts of marijuana. The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee voted 6-1 to make possession of less than an ounce of the drug a civil offense, punishable by a $250 fine. The citation may be paid by mail, just like a parking ticket. Parents of those 18 years and younger in possession of less than an ounce of pot also would be notified. [continues 1117 words]
CAMBRIDGE -- For three years, Officer Michael Horan was the "public face" of the Chelmsford Police Department. He worked with hundreds of children and their families as the department's D.A.R.E. officer in the Parker and McCarthy middle schools. A congenial and decorated cop, Horan, who joined the department in 1999, was the link between police and the Chelmsford Public Schools. But Horan had a monkey on his back. He had a gambling problem in which he would spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each week on scratch tickets, prosecutor Lee Hettinger said. Horan also took trips to Las Vegas casinos and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. [continues 519 words]
'Vapor Alcohol' Leaves Lawmakers In A Huff BOSTON -- State lawmakers are moving quickly to ban a device that lets users get drunk by simply inhaling. The device, AWOL (alcohol without liquid), mixes spirits, such as vodka or whiskey, with pressurized oxygen to create a vapor, according to the product's Web site. A person inhales the cloudy mixture through a tube for about 20 minutes to consume one shot. Kevin Morse, president of North Carolina-based Spirit Partners, Inc., the company that makes the AWOL device, did not return repeated phone calls last week. Anyone caught with the device could face six months of jail time or a fine up to $200, under the proposed law. [continues 670 words]
TEWKSBURY -- Police officers accompanied by seven drug-sniffing dogs ran a drug sweep at the Wynn Middle School this morning, police said. No drugs were found in the hallways, student lockers or common areas, Lt. Dennis Peterson said. But the program has been successful in the past, locating marijuana on at least one occasion in another school. The periodic drug sweeps, which typically last less than 20 minutes, are unannounced and students are prohibited from leaving their classrooms while the search is ongoing, Peterson said. Most of the drug-sniffing dogs came from surrounding communities under the partnership of the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, most commonly known as NEMLEC. [end]
Westford school officials have experienced several rather troubling and embarrassing incidents with teachers in recent years, resulting in their prudent decision to review policies regarding hiring practices and background checks. Three teachers have been charged with crimes in the last three years, including two arrested for heroin-related offenses. Former teacher Rosemarie Pumo was eventually convicted of distributing heroin to students and sentenced to four to five years in state prison. Two weeks ago, teacher Jessica Palkes, who resigned after her arrest, was arraigned on charges of heroin possession. In light of those incidents, Superintendent of Schools Stephen Foster is considering adding random drug testing to the teachers' contract. [continues 170 words]
Dr. Wayne Pasanen, Lowell General Hospital's medical director, has mixed emotions about the recent proposal to open a methadone clinic in the heart of the downtown business district. It's an important issue for someone like Pasanen, who has been on the front lines in the war against drugs for many years. Not the "war" on drugs, mind you, as that war is an easy one, one that often includes not much other than mottos, and some good, old-fashioned self-righteousness. [continues 588 words]
Locating a methadone clinic in downtown Lowell, a few steps from the high school, is an unconscionably bad idea that must be strongly opposed by city leaders and our state delegation. Relief Associates LLC of Watertown this week proposed a facility for John Street, a site that is about 150 feet from Lowell High School's Freshmen Academy and two blocks from the school's main buildings. It is the wrong location for several reasons -- methadone clinics attract drug dealers looking for easy targets but who are willing to sell to anyone, including naive students; it will stymie downtown Lowell's ongoing revitalization; and the city already has a methadone clinic -- Habit Management Institute -- on Suffolk Street. [continues 266 words]
Officials: Methadone Plan Bad For Downtown LOWELL - City councilors last night mounted an aggressive crusade to keep a methadone clinic out of downtown Lowell. Councilor Eileen Donoghue demanded details on opening a clinic, and suggested the state Department of Public Health be informed of how close schools are to the proposed site. "To put this across the street from the second-largest high school in the state, it makes me wonder if the (DPH) has even reviewed this," she said. "I want to make sure we're aggressive on the city side on this, including if the city has to take action against the Department of Public Health." Last week, two men met with Police Superintendent Edward Davis and Lowell Plan President James Cook and suggested putting a methadone clinic at 35 John St. The location is not only feet away from the Lowell High school, it's also right next door to the Lowell Alternative High School. City Manager John Cox vowed to keep a close watch on the proposal, adding that he "had a good conversation," with 35 John St. landlord Louis Saab. "Clearly this has created some concern with business members and residents in the community," Cox said. "This is a situation which is still fluid, but we are preparing ourselves to go forward. There is nothing formally before the city, but we will continue to monitor the situation." DPH officials have the authority to license such a clinic, but a license application hasn't been submitted yet, said DPH spokeswoman Donna Rheaume. It takes between three and six months to consider an application, during which time state officials would consider any community opposition. The DPH will also consider the proximity to schools, Sen. Steven Panagiotakos said. The proposed location is 137 feet from Lowell High School's Freshman Academy. "That's well below the 1,000-foot radius," said Panagiotakos, referring to the state laws that make it illegal to sell drugs within a "school zone." City Health Director Frank Singleton was investigating whether any city permits were needed to open the clinic. [continues 476 words]
It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1947 as a painkiller, and by 1950, oral methadone was used to treat the symptoms of persons withdrawing from heroin. Methadone is a drug that stops agonizing withdrawal symptoms by stimulating the same parts of the brain that heroin does, without the mind-altering euphoria. Critics point out that heroin users simply transfer their addiction to methadone. Clinics slowly reduce patients' methadone dosage, and over time, the ultimate goal is for clients to become drug-free. Sources: Sun Archives and Clinco Communications, Inc. of Mundelein, Ill. [end]
LOWELL -- City leaders yesterday blasted a proposal by a Watertown corporation to open a methadone clinic downtown in the shadow of Lowell High School, saying "it's the worst possible thing in the worst possible location." On Friday, officials from Relief Associates LLC, 60 Arsenal St., Watertown, briefed some leaders on their proposal -- visiting with Police Superintendent Edward Davis and Lowell Plan President James Cook -- to lease space at 35 John St. The building, former home of the city Health Department, is owned by Louis Saab, who owns numerous downtown buildings and has frequently been at odds with local political and business leaders over downtown development. Joseph Chery, Relief Associates' director of community development, could not be reached for comment yesterday. [continues 644 words]
WESTFORD -- Two weeks after a teacher was arraigned on charges of heroin possession, the School Department is considering adding random drug testing to the teachers' contract. At last night's School Committee meeting, Superintendent of Schools Stephen Foster said he plans to review the teacher contract for ways to ensure a higher level of safety for students and staff. "Given recent events, it seems only prudent to accelerate a review of pertinent policies," said Foster in a letter to parents and staff. Jessica Palkes, a former Stony Brook Middle School teacher, was charged with possession of heroin and arraigned in Ayer District Court on Jan. 9. Parent Susan Foley said she is angry with the media attention surrounding Palmas' arrest. [continues 416 words]
TYNGSBORO -- The stories are replete with heartache and misery and are designed to steer kids away from drugs. There is the Yale student who died of an overdose. There is the MIT student who died in a methamphetamine lab. There is the prominent doctor who became addicted to OxyContin, forfeiting a wonderful family, a beautiful home and a lucrative practice. "Drugs not only hurt the user, but it hurts everyone around him," Lt. Dennis Brooks told a group of about 200 students from area schools who attended an antidrug conference yesterday at the Boston University Corporate Education Center. The conference was sponsored by the Project Alliance Middlesex Partnerships for Youth and the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. Brooks, a 23-year member of the Massachusetts State Police, assisted the students, all of whom are peer leaders in their schools, in identifying the various drugs that have made inroads into teen social circles in the last five years. He also spoke of the violence that often accompanies the drug culture. "The drug dealers and the drug users don't worry about me catching them," Brooks said. "They know I won't kill them or hurt them. They're worried abut their associates and their group of friends who can inflict some serious pain upon them." The good news is that alcohol and marijuana use is down among high-school students across the state, said Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley. The bad news, she added, is that OxyContin, anabolic steroids and other narcotics are readily available. [continues 358 words]
BILLERICA -- Though wary of hyping OxyContin abuse as another epidemic, Billerica police say the potent painkiller has been so prevalent in town that strengthened efforts must be made to curb illegal use of the drug. The Police Department is currently pursuing six active investigations into OxyContin distribution in the area. But while police officers do their part on the streets, Police Chief Daniel Rosa is also hoping Town Meeting will approve the creation of a Substance Abuse Prevention Committee. "I feel it's a serious problem," Rosa said. "As of the last year or so, we've really been hit hard by OxyContin, in particular. Several years ago, we lost the DARE program because of funding, but we have to do something." Billerica Detective Roy Frost said he has begun to see OxyContin abuse in all segments of the population, from heroin addicts to high-school students. "We have kids who have had no issues with drugs all of a sudden using OxyContin. It's amazing," Frost said. [continues 392 words]
LOWELL -- The Romney administration is looking to toughen penalties for possession of methamphetamine, to prevent an epidemic that has swept across other parts of the nation. "Right now it's under control, but we're beginning to see early signs. A lab here a lab there. What we want to do is tighten up our laws in anticipation of the arrival of this problem. It's not often that you have the opportunity to get out in front of a coming drug epidemic" Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey said during a visit to Lowell yesterday. [continues 171 words]
Last year, police busted one clandestine methamphetamine lab in all of Massachusetts. Now, police in Greater Lowell have found two in a little more than a month. And while police say that isn't enough to indicate the corrosive drug is making inroads, it is enough to make them take notice. "I was talking to my counterpart in Kansas City and it's a tremendous problem out there," Lowell Police Superintendent Edward Davis said. "There have been rumors of it coming this way for many years, but these are serious indicators, and we have to be vigilant." In some states, such as Hawaii, crystal-meth-related deaths are rising sharply this year. And police blame the drug for increasing counts of violent crime and destroyed lives. [continues 579 words]
Last year, police busted one clandestine methamphetamine lab in all of Massachusetts. Now, police in Greater Lowell have found two in a little more than a month. And while police say that isn't enough to indicate the corrosive drug is making inroads, it is enough to make them take notice. "I was talking to my counterpart in Kansas City and it's a tremendous problem out there," Lowell Police Superintendent Edward Davis said. "There have been rumors of it coming this way for many years, but these are serious indicators, and we have to be vigilant." [continues 608 words]
I would like to counter the contention by Stephen Heath that I object to the use of marijuana as medicine. Quite the contrary. I want to make clear that we have two separate issues here: 1. The use of marijuana as medicine prescribed by doctors; and 2. the "legalization" of marijuana as not encompassed under issue No. 1. Regarding the first issue, I applaud that we have a medicine containing an active ingredient of marijuana that can and does help patients, and hope that others are developed. [continues 386 words]
Dr. Phaneuf objects to the use of marijuana as medicine and cites her beliefs about the potential risks of using marijuana in general. However, she fails to inform readers that increasing numbers of legal medical marijuana patients in the 11 states which permit legal access have abandoned "smoked" marijuana in preference to safer delivery systems. These include consuming their medicine in food products, using a vaporizer (which removes carcinogens produced by smoke) or applying tinctures. It's important to agree that all medicines have side effects, including marijuana. However, marijuana is never lethal like many heavy duty and often addictive FDA-approved drugs. [continues 92 words]
LOWELL -- It was only a lollipop, but among the Levines, it created a generation gap-like chasm of thought. "This is outrageous," said Jackie Levine as she inspected a marijuana-flavored lollipop still in its wrapper. No it isn't, laughed her 14-year-old son, Ben. Levine, a Nashua schoolteacher, contends that Pot Suckers, which are popular and fast disappearing from the countertops at Spencer Gifts, shouldn't be sold at all. Soon they won't be. New Jersey-based ICUP Inc. stopped distribution late last month, despite strong sales. [continues 641 words]
Responding to a spate of articles and editorials prompted by the recent Supreme Court decision regarding medical marijuana, I offer my take on the subject from the perspective of a practicing physician. The key points for me are that, if such products could be developed by the pharmaceutical industry, they would be regulated for safety and efficacy by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and I could be more certain as to the dose I would be prescribing. In addition, I believe this would already fall under the purview of the FDA, so that we do not need the courts to intervene. I would like to make an illustrative comparison. Let's say I had a patient with intractable pain for whom opiate therapy would be appropriate. I would never tell him to go out and buy a few bags of heroin. Heroin can be quite effective in easing extreme pain, but I could never be certain of the dose he would be getting. Heroin is a street drug, cut with any number of substances in illegal laboratories. What adverse effects might these uncontrolled additives have? The pharmaceutical industry provides us with a number of similar opiates (such as Morphine), regulated by the FDA for safety in prescribed uses, with standardized dosing. Several routes are available, including oral, injectable and transdermal. I would like similar availability and regulation of various drug delivery systems for the active ingredient(s) of marijuana, so that I can be as sure of dosing as I am for medically available opiates. Do I think marijuana should be legalized? That is, or should be, a separate issue entirely. We are addressing medical uses of marijuana. Simply put, I'm not looking to prescribe smoked marijuana, but rather a regulated medication. Westford [end]
School Officials Concerned About State's Plan For Random Checks BOSTON -- Drug testing may be a useful tool to help steer teens away from addiction, local school officials say, but it would be better administered by families than by the public schools. "I think it's a parent's job to do that," said Lowell School Committee member Regina Faticanti. "We're feeding kids, we're transporting kids, we're educating kids. I don't think we should be taking over a parent's role of making sure their children are not using drugs." While eager to make inroads in the fight against substance abuse among teens, some local school officials say they are unsure whether drug testing in the schools is the most effective approach. [continues 407 words]
BOSTON -- Massachusetts officials plan to open two sobriety schools within the next year for recovering student addicts, many of whom are at risk of relapsing if they stay in their old high-school environment. Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey proposed the plan as part of a statewide strategic plan for preventing and coping with substance abuse among youth and adults last week. It's also an idea that's being pushed by Sen. Steven Tolman, D-Brighton, the chairman of the Legislature's Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee. [continues 948 words]
The proposal being pushed by Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey to institute parent-approved drug testing at Massachusetts' public high schools has merit and should find support with legislators. Under Healey's plan, which must still be approved by the Legislature as part of a $9.1 million anti-drug package, students would be tested during the regular school day, provided their parents had given permission. Healey realizes that students' drug use can't be halted if it hasn't been discovered. Sometimes parents and guardians can be blind to things they don't want to see. [continues 314 words]
Plan Seeks $9.1m For Treatment Programs BOSTON -- Massachusetts has no cohesive plan for battling a growing substance-abuse problem and must focus more closely on prevention to shed its image as a state with one of the highest rates of addiction in the country, officials said yesterday. At a Statehouse press conference that drew lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey released a 29-page strategy for overhauling substance-abuse services in Massachusetts, proposing such ideas as "sober" high schools for youths who are recovering addicts and increased spending on both short-term detoxification and long-term treatment. [continues 504 words]
Removes Tables And Chairs After Paraphernalia Repeatedly Found Inside LOWELL -- Removing all the tables from a busy downtown shop is not a good business move. But to Dunkin' Donuts owner Brian Marino, neither is letting customers relax at tables with drug needles stuck below them. It was this tough choice that led Marino, who owns four Dunkin' Donuts franchises in Lowell, to remove all the tables and chairs from his shop at Merrimack and Central streets last week. Marino, whose Westford Group owns a total of 13 Dunkin' Donuts franchises between here and Worcester, said the downtown Lowell location has been overrun by drug users in the past year or two, even though other shops have not had such problems. After a fight broke out between suspected drug users last Thursday, Marino took the drastic measure of hauling all the tables and chairs out of the shop, for the protection of both customers and employees. [continues 909 words]
BOSTON -- One in eight Massachusetts public high school students has tried inhalants at least once, they say, a statistic that prompts state health officials to raise awareness about this potentially life-threatening problem. The Department of Public Health reports "huffing" is happening throughout the state, among all types of children. Use may start as early as the third grade and increase through middle school, with the highest proportion of lifetime use seen among white, ninth-graders in rural areas. However, state officials say they are seeing an increase in urban areas. Steve Keel, director of prevention for the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services at the Department of Public Health, says "We want to stay on top of this and educate the population about what they can be looking for. It's a big concern." [continues 282 words]
Mom, dad -- it's a whole new ball of wax out there today. At least so far as drug use is concerned. But you're not listening, are you? That's what the experts say, anyway. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America released sadly disturbing news last week, indicating that parents today are more blasACopyright about their youngsters' drug use than parents of previous generations. The parents they surveyed, some 1,200 across the nation, see less risk in drug experimentation among youngsters, and are less likely to speak to their children about it. [continues 324 words]
BOSTON -- One in eight Massachusetts public high school students has tried inhalants at least once, they say, a statistic that prompts state health officials to raise awareness about this potentially life-threatening problem. The Department of Public Health reports "huffing" is happening throughout the state, among all types of children. Use may start as early as the third grade and increase through middle school, with the highest proportion of lifetime use seen among white, ninth-graders in rural areas. However, state officials say they are seeing an increase in urban areas. Steve Keel, director of prevention for the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services at the Department of Public Health, says "We want to stay on top of this and educate the population about what they can be looking for. It's a big concern." After holding discussion groups, the office will assemble materials targeting minority populations in urban areas, Keel said. Other brochures will target different groups -- parents, teachers, youth. [continues 256 words]
Hand-In Hand Response Salem Superintendent of Schools Herbert Levine is a man with a cause, and he's pushing hard to make random drug testing a routine occurrence in Salem public schools. Levine, whose son Joel became addicted to OxyContin while in high school, is convinced that random testing will serve as an effective deterrent to drug use in schools and help stop its spread. He is most likely correct, although the American Civil Liberties Union is opposed to his approach and predicts it will die in court once challenged. [continues 571 words]
Former Chelmsford High Principal's Private Pain Spurs Public and Controversial Call For Action SALEM -- Herbert Levine stares at the flat-screen computer monitor, near the photograph of Ted Williams on his office wall. There's an e-mail from a family in Rhode Island dealing with a child's heroin addiction. Thanks, they wrote, you have our support. Levine has heard from just one other superintendent, but dozens of similar e-mails are pouring in from families across the country. The nation's drug czar called the previous day from Washington to offer support. There were two TV interviews. [continues 1299 words]
Joel Levine first smoked marijuana at 14 and worked his way to pills to get higher. Levine, 19, had his first snort of OxyContin, the powerful narcotic pain reliever similar to morphine, in his junior year of high school. OxyContin capsules are designed to release the pain reliever oxycodone over time, but abusers like Joel and his friends opened capsules and snorted them, causing a rush of the drug all at once. Abused, OxyContin is potentially deadly and highly addictive. "I'd done Vicodin, Percocet and Valium before and my friends said it was 100 times better than Vicodin," Joel says by phone from his home in Peabody. "The first time, me and two friends shared an 80-milligram capsule." [continues 333 words]
From Greater Lowell school officials to students, just about everyone agrees drugs on school grounds are a major problem. But is random drug testing the fix? "I think it's a terrible precedent," said Joe Mendonca, a member of the Lowell School Committee. "We're supposed to be teaching (students), not treating them like criminals. "I think they're trampling over our constitution and civil rights," Mendonca said. Of a handful of students, parents and officials questioned, most denounced the concept. But the idea is being pushed by Salem Superintendent of Schools Herbert Levine, who, following his teenage son's battle with drug use, has called for random testing in his district. [continues 416 words]
CHELMSFORD The Chelmsford Coalition Against Drugs formed earlier this year after guest speaker Bruce Talbot made waves in town with his presentation on "club drugs." Six months later, the coalition is gearing up for its first major event: another presentation by Talbot. Talbot, a retired Chicago-area drug-enforcement officer, will talk to high-school and middle-school students and parents, as well as local police officers, about the dangers of illegal drugs like heroin and marijuana. Heroin in particular has been on the rise in Massachusetts in recent years due to low prices and a prevalence of high-purity heroin in powder form, which is more attractive to young people. [continues 221 words]
Do you think drug addiction hasn't affected your life? Odds are you haven't been hooked on anything beyond caffeine or nicotine, so we'll rule that out. Maybe a friend or relative has had a problem with illegal drugs more likely, but still not a given. How about this: Has your house ever been robbed? Your car broken into? And even if you've been lucky enough to avoid those fates, you still pay taxes, right? Heroin use is on the rise in Massachusetts. And one way or another, it's taking money out of your wallet. [continues 1726 words]
Heroin, be the death of me Heroin, it's my wife and it's my life Because a mainer to my vein Leads to a center in my head And then I'm better off than dead from the song "Heroin," by Lou Reed When the needle finds the vein and discharges heroin into the bloodstream, the user feels the effects in less than 10 seconds. For Jim Switter, it took 35 years to wear off. "It was an instant love affair," Switter, 53, says. "I felt I had found my calling like a long-lost friend had returned." [continues 1473 words]
CAMBRIDGE - A Chelmsford police officer pleaded innocent yesterday to charges that he stole at least $30,000 from his department's DARE program over two years a significant portion of which a prosecutor says he spent on gambling. Prosecutors say Officer Michael Horan pilfered money from DARE fund-raisers, including an annual basketball game between Chelmsford police officers and students and teachers at the McCarthy and Parker middle schools. Horan also kept cash from a DARE-sponsored flag football league and from various DARE raffles, according to Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney Rick Grundy. [continues 479 words]
CHELMSFORD A Middlesex grand jury handed up a 20-count indictment against a decorated police officer Thursday for allegedly stealing up to $20,000 in department money. Officer Michael Horan who was on paid administrative leave was immediately suspended without pay. "His status will remain until further notice suspended without pay and we'll have to wait for disposition of the charges," said Lt. James Murphy. He said the case is still under investigation and declined to discuss specifics of the case. [continues 187 words]
