By Leo Beletsky, Elena
Moroz
In Massachusetts, opioid
overdose is the leading cause of accidental fatality; it ranks third overall
behind heart disease and cancer. In this state, 60% of all poisoning deaths are
due to opioid overdoses. Communities just outside of Boston, including Quincy
and Lynn have been particularly hard-hit. These areas have three times more
heroin-related ER visits than the rest of the country. Heroin, not alcohol, is
the most common substance of abuse in Abington, Quincy and Weymouth. Other
opioids besides heroin are also abused more frequently in New England than any
other region of the United States.
In response to the
rising number of opiate overdoses in the area over the past 10 years, the
Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) launched a program to
facilitate bystander intervention. The Overdose Education and Naloxone
Distribution (OEND) program has reached out to thousands of drug users,
their caregivers and other members of the community, distributing naloxone and
authorizing bystander administration. The program has also expanded to training
non-medical first responders, including fire fighters and police, after a group
of drug users’ parents, advocated for increased police involvement in the
program.
Nancy is the mother of
Brendan, who was a college-bound honor student and an athlete at Boston College
High School. It was a shock to everyone when Brendan developed an addiction to
his father’s pain medication – OxyContin. The addiction lead Brendan to heroin,
homelessness, problems with the law and finally a near-fatal overdose event.
Kathy’s son Michael also found his way to opioid addiction through painkillers.
When Michael suffered a motorcycle accident, he became addicted to Vicodin and
later transitioned to heroin, also surviving an overdose.
