GRANT TO FUND ANTIDRUG CLASSES

PEABODY -- Alarmed by a spike in drug-related crimes in Essex County,
due mostly to abuse of heroin and other opiates, law enforcement
officials will use $200,000 in new federal funding to expand antidrug
education in public schools.

Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett and Sheriff Frank G.
Cousins will collaborate on the effort to curb heroin abuse and the
use of OxyContin, a prescription painkiller, that has hooked people
across the region, particularly those in their early 20s.

"This is a terrible scourge," Blodgett said. "We have to make people
understand that it's just not the road to go down. . . . It will lead
to one of three options. You are either going to be in jail. You are
going to die, or you will spend a lifetime fighting addiction."

Cousins said the spike in opiate abuse has pushed the number of
offenders in jail awaiting trial on drug-related charges to almost
1,200, a nine-year high. "The numbers are alarming," Cousins said.
"What's worrisome is that people being arraigned are either addicted
to drugs or alcohol, or a combination of both. . . . Once they've
committed crimes, we have no choice but to get them off the streets."

The $200,000 for Essex County was included in the Science, State,
Justice, and Commerce Appropriations Act, which passed the House of
Representatives on Nov. 9 and the Senate on Nov. 16, and is due to be
signed soon by President Bush.

"It is a tough political climate," said US Representative John F.
Tierney, a Salem Democrat, who announced the funding at a news
conference Monday. "People are trying to cut back on Safe and Drug
Free Schools . . . and criminal justice monies. . . . But we were
able to get this through."

Tierney said he has also joined US Representative James Ramstead, a
Republican of Minnesota, to file a bill directing the US Food and
Drug Administration to monitor the effect the illicit use of
OxyContin and other prescription drugs have on a community. "We'd
like them to have the ability to take steps to be able to deal with
problems those drugs might create," he said.

In the short-term, Blodgett and Cousins will decide how to spend the
$200,000 formally given to the sheriff's department. Options include
working with school nurses, guidance counselors and other public
school educators to educate teens about heroin and opiate addiction.
Community forums, which Blodgett held throughout the region over the
last year, could also be expanded.

People convicted of drug crimes could also get more help as they
resettle into society. A reentry program started by the sheriff's
department 10 months ago places people leaving jail into halfway
houses and on supervised parole, to help them stay drug free. "We're
looking to expand, not duplicate, programs that we have already in
place," Cousins said. "We're looking to get the biggest bang for our buck."