Greetings Westfield! This past Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of my first election, where the great people of this city came out and put their confidence in me. Every day this past year, I’ve worked hard to honor that support and show my gratitude. Westfield is truly a great city, and if we keep working together, we can make it even better.
Three months ago, on January 3rd, I wrote an article about the heroin epidemic and how the new administration run by Governor Baker intended to take on the problem plaguing out communities. On Wednesday, almost three months to the date of that article, The Boston Globe released a report saying that the Massachusetts State Police attribute over 200 deaths to heroin overdose since January 1. Three months, over two hundred dead from heroin overdose. That number does not include Springfield, Boston, and Worcester. At this rate, Massachusetts is on track for over one thousand deaths from opioid overdose in 2015.
Thursday was an extremely important day for the ongoing issue of opioid addiction in Massachusetts. A panel discussion was held in Boston, featuring the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and testimony from citizens and health care professionals.Attorney General Maura Healey has been an outspoken critic of the current prescription monitoring system, as well as the tendency for doctors to over-prescribe. I filed and signed on to legislation to increase accountability in the prescription monitoring system, and having these discussions is a big part of working towards a solution. Reading through the testimony from everyday people whose family members or friends struggled with the addiction never gets easier, and there was a lot of testimony given Thursday.
Eight percent of heroin addicts were addicted to prescription painkillers prior to turning to heroin. More and more, we’re seeing pain medications like oxycodone and hydrocodone that are highly addictive prescribed for injuries. Insurance companies often tell doctors they are only able to see patients only so frequently, and rather than giving a patient a three day prescription and checking to see how they’re doing on that third day, doctors prescribe much more in what would seem to be an attempt to “hold them over.” Before the prescription is gone, the person is addicted. They’ll go through their friends’ medicine cabinets for more, and when they have all been scavenged, they’ll turn to the streets, where they find that prescription pain killers are over $50 a pill. While these individuals may be deterred by that price, the effect of the drug does not escape their memory- they’ll do anything to get back to that place. Heroin provides that alternative, at a much cheaper price. Running anywhere between $3.50 and $5.00 a bag, it sells itself.
In western Mass., the problem is no different. We had our own panel discussion, with members of the judiciary, law enforcement and health care professionals on the panel and in the crowd. Behavioral Health workers, district attorneys, and other professionals gathered to discuss the issue that’s happening “in our own backyard” (as the event was titled). Right away, the members of the panel made sure to emphasize the inaccuracy of that statement. Heroin and opiate addiction isn’t out in the backyard, it’s in our homes. This epidemic has risen above location and has transcended socioeconomic status.
The most compelling argument is that addiction, especially the addiction to opiates, is a disease. It’s a disease, but it’s not being treated like one. When someone who is struggling with addiction is able to admit they need help, they are more often turned away than taken in. Treatment centers do not have enough beds for the amount of people that need them, and often people are being provided with short term, outpatient programs when they really need long term care and intensive supervision.
One of the points made at the panel was quite disturbing- that one of the best places to get help, treatment, and care for recovery from heroin addiction in Massachusetts is in our prisons and jails. There, people who are dependent on these drugs receive the supervision and accountability they need, with classes on coping mechanisms to help deal with the stress that often turns them back towards the drug. Once released, those who are given probation continue to receive that supervision and accountability.
Those who are not given probation as part of their sentencing are in a different situation, the same situation as many addicts who are released from treatment centers or short-term detox programs. For these individuals, the outcome can be murky. For a person recovering from a heroin addiction, being released back into the environment where they were buying and taking drugs and hanging around a crowd who did the very same thing will often get the individual right back where they started. I’ve heard countless stories of addicts who went into short term treatment, where they were able to clear their heads enough to feel as though they were back to normal, only to be released and overdose shortly after.
A strategy being discussed to prevent an addict from falling back into the familiarity of the circumstance is relocation. The idea behind this is that when you are removed from the location, you are better equipped to start fresh. Going to a new location will give a person a new outlook- they’ll be able to meet new people, make new impressions, and more importantly for the addict, they will not be able to rekindle the relationship with the familiar dealers. There is better opportunity in a new location, and I believe this would be an interesting strategy to look into.
In any event, communication is imperative for helping these individuals manage and overcome their addiction, especially as things start to get better for the individual. As people who struggle with addiction get back on track, especially as they gain employment, they are able to fund their addiction. With steady employment comes steady income, and that is when it is important for the family to remain in contact with health care providers and probation officers, if they are assigned any.
Communication and education are two vital components of any strategy or tactic that we as a community and as a state can take to prevent more overdoses and help people recover. Our tendency to overmedicate as a society- whether it be with heroin, alcohol, or any other drug- suggests we may have a problem coping. Rather than talking about our issues or finding alternative solutions of managing stress, we are turning to drugs to make us “happy”, even if only for a short period time. It’s important that we come together to change this. I don’t want to see one thousand people die this year from an addiction. Whether it’s passing legislation, setting up more discussions, or some alternative we haven’t found yet, we can’t afford to not take action.
Please feel free to contact me about this issue, or any other. The more we address this crisis, the more we can learn about it and work to end it. I can be reached at [email protected], or you can send any emails to my aide Neesha at [email protected].
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
