Is Teen Drug Addiction on the Rise in Town? [POLL]

Drug use among male teens may be on the rise in Danvers. 

Melanie Fried, program director of the Adolescent Residential Program at , told the Daily Item she has seen escalating drug use by North Shore teenagers, mainly in males. 

Fried said she believes the increased use is because drugs are more readily available.

"Now it’s so easy to get," she told the Item. "With the economy and parents working two or three jobs, they’re not home. So these kids are raiding the liquor cabinet and raiding the medicine cabinet and buying on the street … Yeah it’s brutal, brutal."

Fried said a spike has been seen in Perc 30s, a 30-milligram tablet of quick release Oxycodone. Because they're expensive, some resort to heroin when unable to get Perc 30s. 

is a health and rehabilitation clinic serving Danvers and its surrounding communities. It specializes in detoxification, adolescent treatment, opiate treatment, prevention and outreach. It offers intensive outpatient programs and also has a residence for women who have suffered domestic abuse.

The Lynn Item has done a five-part Dispatches series discussing drugs on the North Shore. Check it out here.

Do you think there is an increase in drug use among teens in Danvers? Take our poll and voice your opinion in the poll.