Class 12-15 Week #9

Week 9's class was led by Trooper Scott McCabe from the Cape Cod Drug Task Force and Sandwich officer Matt O'Brien, also a member of the Task Force. Scott focused on the fact that drug abuse, and the search for money to pay for drugs, is the underlying cause of the majority of crimes on the Cape--breaking and entering, assaults, armed robbery, bank robbery, etc. Anybody who reads the daily paper has to be aware of the epidemic of drug abuse here on the Cape. Scott reviewed the various classes of drugs, beginning with Class A, which is heroin, a highly addictive narcotic; Class B, cocaine, oxycontin/oxycodone, highly addictive stimulants; Class C, which includes valium and prescription pills and steroids; down to Class D, which is marijuana. He also discussed methamphetamine, which isn't a problem here--yet. Narcan, which has been issued to several of the local police departments, is used to counteract the effects of a drug overdose. The debate over its use revolves around the question of whether it's a solution to the problem of drug abuse or just encourages a user to continue using. It reverses the effect of a potentially lethal overdose--but the user frequently just continues the cycle of drug abuse. Scott stressed over and over how highly addictive the hard drugs are and said that in his many years of experience, he's known of only 2 or 3 users who were able to successfully kick their habits.           Contributed by Donna Leiss, Editor

Photos courtesy of Pauline Fortin, John Leiss and Sue Vibberts