Chief suggests home cure for drug addiction

LYNN – Heroin?s death toll hit a record level in Lynn last year and Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said a key weapon in reducing drug deaths is at-home early prevention efforts by parents.?It?s got to start in the home. Parents have to step up, know what kids are doing and where they are,” Coppinger told more than 300 people gathered in North Shore Community College?s gymnasium on Friday.The Greater Lynn Opiate Awareness Summit brought together police officers, judges, addiction treatment workers, elected officials and people hurt by addiction deaths like Lynn Firefighter Timothy Lawrence, whose daughter, Kathleen, died of a heroin overdose 12 years ago.?She would have been 33 years old in February,” Lawrence said.Lawrence compared the battle to reduce and end heroin deaths to the job he has done for 26 years.?It?s got to begin with prevention: To put a fire out is much more difficult than preventing it,” he said.Coppinger said heroin overdoses killed 35 people in Lynn in 2014 and the first fatal overdose of 2015 occurred on Thursday.?Last night, a 13-year-old boy found his 33-year-old dad dead,” he said.Several factors contribute to overdose statistics in the city, including fatal ones. What Coppinger described as a “dosage unit” of heroin costs five dollars on city streets. Lynn is known, the chief said, as “a source city” for the drug and drug treatment centers in the city see successes as well as failures – with relapsed addicts seeking out heroin locally.?The statistics are not good – how are we going to fix it?” he asked.The answer may lie with the state Legislature, where state Sen. Thomas M. McGee said local representatives are prepared to join colleagues across the state to draft and propose legislation aimed at increasing addiction prevention efforts.McGee said his State House office receives calls from local families desperate to find a treatment bed for a loved one addicted to heroin.?Someone ready today to get help may not be ready tomorrow. It is a crisis really affecting all of us. We need to come together to address it,” McGee said.Lynn Probation Officer Donald Castle said he helped organize the summit after probation clients told him about their drug problems or exhibited signs of heroin addiction.He said ideas and suggestions offered by summit attendees will be updated and improved upon at future summits in the ongoing battle to end addiction.?It?s ruining a lot of families,” said Lawrence.