Boston: Politicos dragging feet on heroin problem

"Our public officials and elected representatives continue to drag their feet on increased funding for, and accessibility to, aggressive rehabilitation and educational programs" to meet the heroin problem, says a letter to the Boston Globe by Jody Price of Brockton.

Ms. Price is one of the parents in the suburban Boston area whose family has been hit by heroin addiction.

She says of the local politicos: "Their inaction abandons families to be destroyed by the gut-wrenching fear and life-changing grief they suffer, struggling to save their children, then losing them to overdose. " More.

Man convicted of tenth DUI

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SALEM, MA: An Arlington man will spend up to five years in prison after he was convicted of his tenth drunk driving offense.

According to prosecutors, John McNeil, 43, drove through a stop sign in Haverhill on Christmas Day in 2005 and crashed into an ambulance responding to a call with its lights flashing.

The crash injured two emergency medical technicians.

McNeil had been convicted of drunken driving eight times in Massachusetts and once in New York before this incident, according to court documents.

McNeil's lawyer said his client is "a decent guy who has a severe alcohol problem." Source.

Why are felonies committed with automobiles considered more excusable than those committed with bare fists or ax handles? If this man had done a string of any other crimes he would have been in prison long term after the second or third offense, severe alcohol problem or not. He's not to be blamed for his alcoholism. He is responsible, though, for his decision to drive. The laws that allowed him back on the road again and again and again are broken. They need to be fixed, or they're meaningless.

Tobacco companies have boosted nicotine content

Boston, MA--A reanalysis of nicotine yield from major brand name cigarettes sold in Massachusetts from 1997 to 2005 has confirmed that manufacturers have steadily increased the levels of this agent in cigarettes, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health reported Jan. 18.

Cigarette makers not only increased the level of nicotine an average of 1.6 per cent per year, they also redesigned cigarettes so that smokers would take more puffs. Nicotine is the primary addictive agent in cigarettes.

"Cigarettes are finely-tuned drug delivery devices, designed to perpetuate a tobacco pandemic," said former Massachusetts Health Commissioner Howard Koh, a lead author of the Harvard study. "Yet precise information about these products remains shrouded in secrecy, hidden from the public."

Prof. Gregory Connolly at HSPH and research director, said: "Our findings call into serious question whether the tobacco industry has changed at all in its pursuit of addicting smokers since signing the Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 with the State Attorneys General. Our analysis shows that the companies have been subtly increasing the drug nicotine year by year in their cigarettes, without any warning to consumers, since the settlement."

Press release of the HSPH study. Full text of the report.

Heroin deaths on the rise in Boston suburbs

Reports of fatal heroin overdoses, especially among young people, have made local headlines and sent shockwaves through cities and towns south of Boston, the Boston Globe reports.

"We've seen a steady increase in fatal and nonfatal overdoses since the late 1990s, and we've seen a dramatic shift in use patterns -- younger and younger kids using stronger and stronger drugs," said Michael Botticelli, a substance abuse specialist of the Department of Public Health. "This is part of the trend we've seen. It's not confined to the South Shore."

The US Drug Enforcement Agency reports that Massachusetts is flooded with heroin that's cheap and potent, and the overdoses are often linked to heroin that is up to 60 percent pure, and sometimes even stronger.

In 1990, the state health department recorded 87 fatal opioid-related overdoses in Massachusetts. Thirteen years later, the toll had increased more than six fold to 549 fatal overdoses for the year. More.

Afghan heroin tsunami hits Boston area

The impact of the record 2006 opium crop in Afghanistan is beginning to be felt in parts of the U.S., and it's not just in the inner cities. Among other communities reporting lower prices, greater potency and wider availability is this letter from the Boston suburbs by Joanne Peterson, founder of a support group for parents whose children are addicted to opiates. Peterson says:

It used to be that it started with OxyContin. Now it starts with 70-80% pure heroin, which can be snorted and is so easy to obtain that it is being experimented by kids that you would be shocked to see using this stuff.

In the past 8 weeks there have been 9 deaths so far of young souls from the suburbs ...

We are in a panic because more and more young people who were brought up well, taught right from wrong, went to church, CCD, participated in sports, dance classes, graduated high school, etc., are dying a sad and slow death. Some have had to be plucked from college to go to detox (if a bed can be found) and many have died. Their parents and siblings are absolutely desperate to try and save them but the treatment access is close to impossible to deal with. Insurance refuses to pay for enough treatment. And private treatment is so expensive your normal, every-day, middle-class family has to second mortgage their home or sell off assets to afford it.

The south shore is taking a big hit right now, the death toll is climbing and we are begging the public to get involved and help us get this drug out of Massachusetts, We need to demand it at this point. Like we all say, heroin is not grown in the USA. Where is it coming from? Who is responsible for allowing it in?

Read the complete letter here. Ms. Peterson's group, Learn to Cope, is also on the web, here. More on this story from the South Boston Enterprise, here.

Lethal new heroin mixed with pure opium

LOWELL, MA: -- The deadly heroin linked to four fatal overdoses in the city in the past month was mixed with a high percentage of pure opium, Massachusetts State Police crime lab tests revealed yesterday.

"This is really startling and very concerning," said Lowell police Capt. Robert DeMoura, adding that, as far as he knows, this lethal mix has not been seen in the city in the past. Source.

Maybe it's a pilot of the new Afghan heroin the European experts warned about, see above.

Family voices outrage over drunk car killer

BOSTON: "Why aren't drunk drivers charged with murder?" read a sign carried by family members of slain Suffolk University student Evagelos Pashos, 21, of Shrewsbury, near Boston. The family and friends expressed their grief and outrage at the court hearing for the accused driver, who collided head on with Pashos' car, fatally injuring the student. The accused, 47-year old Alison Voorhis, was charged with vehicular manslaughter. Source. The family's noisy demonstration at the court hearing -- they packed the courtroom and vented their grief and anger at the defendant -- speaks to growing frustration with the relatively lenient treatment given to people who kill people with cars while under the influence, compared to other types of homicide.

Don't Hold Your Breath

The Lung Cancer Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to prevention of lung cancer and support for its victims, has sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission demanding that it take action against tobacco companies for secretly upping nicotine levels in cigarettes. Source.

A federal court in August issued a sweeping judgment against the tobacco industry for conspiracy, consumer fraud, racketeering, and related wrongs. Source.

The State of Massachusetts Department of Public Health followed up with a study showing that nicotine content in major cigarette brands had increased over the past six years. Higher nicotine content makes it easier to get addicted and harder to quit. Source.

The Alliance's argument that the tobacco companies committed fraud on shareholders by secretly raising nicotine levels has abstract merit. But tobacco company shareholders stand to profit from the fraud. And the SEC under Bush isn't going to upset the apple cart. Don't hold your breath on this one.