Pubdate: Thu, 03 Mar 2005
Source: Eagle-Tribune, The (MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Eagle-Tribune
Author: Shawn Regan
Bookmark: (Drug Test)
Bookmark: (Youth)


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."

Fiorentini was the only School Committee member not to vote for creating 
the drug task force. He did not attend last month's meeting where the task 
force was established. He said he continues to oppose random testing of 
students that is proposed by some task force members, but is considering 
supporting tests for students exhibiting questionable behavior or otherwise 
suspected by school officials of using drugs.

Haverhill High students have said they will fight drug tests. Arahovites 
reiterated yesterday that he has seen an increase in heroin and other drug 
use in Haverhill.

"We have seen in Haverhill the same trend that has been going on throughout 
the Merrimack Valley," he said. "Heroin use has significantly increased 
during the past five years."

He said police are seeing a lot more people addicted to heroin and the 
prescription painkiller OxyContin. OxyContin is similar to heroin in effect 
and is readily available to young people, Arahovites said. Kids may sneak 
pills from their parents' medicine cabinet at home or buy it on the street 
for about $80 per 80-milligram tablet, he said.

School Committee member Scott W. Wood Jr. joined Fiorentini at the drug 
forum in Lawrence. Wood proposed the task force because he believes drug 
use is on the rise at Haverhill High, based on his own knowledge and the 
results of a student survey.

Wood, the task force chairman, believes one of the best ways to reduce drug 
use by students is to test them, either randomly or based on suspicion. He 
stressed both options are still on the table, but that it is too early to 
tell if his task force is going to recommend either.

"If we do recommend testing, it's not going to punitive," he said. "The 
purpose is to help kids, not to punish them. That has to be very clear in 
any program or any policy that includes drug testing. Testing, if we do it, 
must also be closely tied to our health education programs in the younger 
grades, and counseling for those using drugs."

The task force met for the first time last week and members are planning a 
visit to Assabet Valley Vocational Technical High School in Marlborough -- 
one of two schools in the state that drug tests students based on 
suspicion. Officials in Salem, Mass., are also considering drug testing 
students. The 2003 Youth Risk Survey showed 49 percent of Haverhill High 
students said they have used marijuana and 17 percent have used drugs like 
heroin and cocaine. Some students have said the results are flawed because 
many students do not take the survey seriously and some make up answers.

Wood said three more people have volunteered to join his task force -- Ron 
George, a constitutional law teacher at Haverhill High School and a 
football coach; Robert Gulardo, an associate principal at the high school 
and the school's former health program director; and Steve Twombly, a 
security guard at the high school and a youth baseball coach. Other members 
include Robert Eldridge, Albert H. Whitaker Jr., Ann O'Donahue, Mary 
Phennicie, student Mikaela Firland, Mike Howard, Geoff Grosky and School 
Committee member Shaun Toohey.
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