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At Synanon, where success with adult addicts who stay within the supportive framework of the house is high but sadly lower with those who leave completely, Synanon Official Bill Ullman contends: "There is no cure for heroin." Dr. Densen-Gerber believes that teen-agers will be easier to help than adult addicts, if only because they are more resilient physically and emotionally and highly responsive to peer group influence inside a treatment center. But she is at a loss to deal with the Ralphies, the pre-teen junkies who are unable to comprehend that the alternatives to treatment are jail or death. "The more children his age we get," she says, "the more new theories will we have to develop. How are we going to reach the Ralphies?" She adds: "Each child infects other children. We cannot let them walk around. We have to treat them. We have no choice. If there were thousands of kids afflicted with smallpox, would you let them roam the streets?"