WOBURN DISTRICT COURT PROBATION’S HEAT PROGRAM
TARGETS HEROIN ADDICTION

Woburn District Court Probation Officer Michael Higgins and Acting Chief Probation Officer Vincent Piro.

The Heroin Education Awareness Task (HEAT) Force Program, an education and treatment initiative created by two Woburn District Court Probation employees to combat drug addiction, recently received a $400,000 boost from the state legislature to continue its work.

Since HEAT was formally established a year ago, more than 250 young adults, ages 17 to 25 years old, have received treatment for heroin addiction through the program. The state funding will help fund ten "in-patient," 30-day transitional beds available to addicts. HEAT is the "brainchild" of Woburn District Court Acting Chief Probation Officer Vincent Piro and Probation Officer Michael Higgins who witnessed first-hand the number of young people coming before the court who were addicted to heroin.

"We were getting a lot of good kids coming before the court, some who were three-star athletes from good families who were becoming addicted to heroin. Some started off taking pain medication as the result of a sport injury and then progressed to harder substances like Oxycontin and heroin," said Higgins, a 30-year Probation Officer and Woburn native.

Piro recalled, "The heroin use just seemed to sweep the area overnight. Through the HEAT Program, we are targeting the younger addict who will not truly benefit from treatment in a general setting with veteran hard-core users. We are trying to address the problem and help these young people by placing them in a sterile, more controlled environment where they may thrive and continue on to residential treatment as well as intensive out-patient services."

The HEAT Program targets addiction by educating parents about the signs of heroin abuse and introducing them to community resources to help their children. HEAT also works in collaboration with CAB (Center for Addictive Behaviors)-Danvers to provide detoxification and in-patient transitional beds to those suffering with addiction.

Through the program's other component, a partnership with the seven local police departments, families who are dealing with the criminal behavior that often results from drug addiction are assisted. HEAT team members are detectives from police forces in the following towns: Burlington, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham, Wilmington, Winchester, and Woburn.

The HEAT Program shared their program and its concept at a conference several months ago – drawing an audience of 300 court personnel and law enforcement officers, including representatives from the Philadelphia Police Department's HEADS UP, which runs a program similar to the HEAT model.

Piro said he, Higgins and members of the HEAT team are pleased that they are able to continue the program and its services to area families dealing with addiction.

"Heroin addiction does not discriminate. It is an addiction that crosses all socio-economic lines. HEAT would not be possible without the support of local police departments, state legislators, and the Commissioner of Probation," said Piro.