Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • November 20, 2013 Police chiefs invite parents to drug awareness program by John Koster Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox, Franklin Lakes Police Chief Joseph Seltenrich, and Oakland Police Chief Edward Kasper have teamed up to present a drug aware- ness program to parents from the FLOW area on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The program will be held at 7 p.m. at Indian Hills High School, 97 Yawpo Avenue in Oakland. The com- munity is invited. The chiefs’ informative program will assist parents in understanding how severe the use of heroin and prescrip- tion pain killer drugs is in the FLOW community. Parents will learn how quickly a child can become addicted to prescription pain killers, and then move on to heroin, a cheaper alternative. “Parents will learn how their child can quickly become addicted to prescription pain killers, and then move on to heroin use because of the cost of the pills,” Chief Fox said last week. “While the situation is not unique to Franklin Lakes, Oakland, and Wyckoff, it’s here. Many of our chil- dren are addicted and parents need to know what to watch for to protect their children.” A drug expert from the Bergen County Prosecutors Office will provide be on hand to discuss how teens who are addicted will do anything to get drugs. “Parents will hear (the expert) say how teenagers who get addicted to these drugs will do anything to get drugs,” Chief Fox said. “When he says anything, he means it.” In recent months, a number of teens and people in their early 20s have been arrested for pain killers and heroin -- a drug that has become more widely used in recent years. “We did some research for the Municipal Alliance about drug arrests over the past 10 years and over the last three or four years the increase in heroin arrests has been just staggering,” Chief Fox told Villadom TIMES. “It went from the point where 10 years ago we never saw heroin to the point where heroin now accounts for the majority of drug arrests.” Towns outside the Wyckoff, Franklin Lakes, and Oak- Guest speaker land nexus have had similar issues. In Glen Rock, a stu- dent at Glen Rock High School was recently arrested for his second attempt to sell heroin to an undercover offi- cer. Students in a number of schools say heroin is readily available and relatively cheap. “Don’t be a parent who puts his or her head in the sand and says ‘Not my child,’” Chief Fox added. “Way too many parents of teenagers who are deeply involved in this problem have said ‘I never would have believed that my child would get messed up with this.’ Locally, we have had students with straight A grades and scholarships dealing with addiction. It is destroying lives.” Jay Vidockler from the Wyckoff Chamber of Commerce addressed the Wyckoff-Midland Park Rotary Club on the value for local businesses in being part of the Chamber. Both the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club provide excellent oppor- tunities for residents to engage in the local community and beyond. Pictured are Wyckoff Chamber of Commerce President Jay Vidockler (left) and Rotary Club President Tom Madigan. (Photo courtesy of Peter Brannigan.)