Crime & Safety

Stoughton Sees Spike in Heroin Overdoses

As Stoughton, and other area towns, have seen a recent spike in heroin/opiate-related overdoses, some fatal, officials are speaking out to try to curb this trend.

On average Stoughton sees two or three heroin or other opiate-related overdoses per year, Stoughton Deputy Police Chief Robert Devine said. However, there have been three such deaths in town this July alone, and 12 overdoses this month overall.

"We've been hit hard," Devine said.

Devine wouldn't go so far as to call it an epidemic or outbreak, but the recent overdose activity is cause for concern.

"It's a spike. It's abnormal for us," he said. "For us to sit back and say nothing about it would be irresponsible."

Devine started by reaching out the community via the Stoughton Police Department's Facebook page, drawing attention to the recent spike in heroin/opiate-related overdoses:

"In the last several weeks, there have been a large number of opioid drug overdoses. Some of which resulted in death, others were able to be saved. Whether there is a bad batch of drugs on the street or if it is pure coincidence is immaterial. We implore you, if you have a dependency problem, please seek help. We don't want you to become a statistic. If you are a family member. Seek out your nearest learn2cope support chapter. We really are rooting for you."

Seeking help and getting treatment is something Devine and OASIS (Organizing Against Substances in Stoughton) Prevention Coordinator Stephanie Patton both stressed.

"This is not a problem we are going to arrest our way out of," Devine said.

A Regional Problem

This problem is not unique to Stoughton. There were 35 overdoses in Brockton in June, whereas in a typical month there is 17, the Boston Globe reported.

Yarmouth has dealt with a recent string of fatal overdoses, the Globe reported. Watertown saw a spike in May, according to Watertown Patch.

Norfolk County District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey told the Boston Globe that fatal overdoses from heroin and other opiates have increased in recent years (projected to reach more than 60 in 2013, as opposed to about 40 in 2011), and that overdoses are responsible for more deaths in Norfolk County than homicides.

As Watertown Patch reported: "The high number of heroin overdoses and those from other opioids has been seen across Massachusetts, according to a study by reseachers at Boston University."

According to a summary of the study, “The rate of opioid overdose continues to rise and is a major cause of preventable death. Opioid related overdose deaths have exceeded the number of motor vehicle deaths each year since 2005 in Massachusetts and are the leading cause of injury death in the commonwealth.”

Preventing Future Heroin Use

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OASIS is taking part in a regional opiate overdose group with Randolph, Braintree, Quincy and Weymouth. They met in June, and again on Thursday.

OASIS exists in Stoughton to prevent drug use and drug addiction among the town's youth population.

In fact, OASIS was formed as a result of an outbreak in heroin and opiate-related drug activity on the South Shore and in Norfolk County back in 2003.  Former District Attorney Bill Keating put together a Heroin Task Force, and Stoughton was an active participant.

Then in 2004, taking advantage of a grant, OASIS formed, bringing together the Stoughton Police, Schools, Youth Commission, and other area organizations in what was a more local coalition looking at all forms of drug and substance use.

While OASIS deals with youth, and the victims of the recent drug overdoses are in their late 20s or early 30s, one of the central goals of the coalition, Devine and Patton said, is to make sure that 10 years from now, today's high school students aren't becoming part of another heroin/opiate overdose spike.

"Our kids aren't using heroin," Patton said. "Generally speaking our problem was alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs."

But drug addiction doesn't start with heroin, Devine and Patton say.

Devine said most of the heroin and other opiate users in town started as marijuana users, then progressed to other hard drugs, and then to heroin.

So reducing the rate of use of these "gateway drugs" is key.

"Hopefully they don't use at all - that's the goal," Devine said, but if they do - "the most critical thing we do is raise the age of first use," he said.

"If you start at a young age, the risk of addiction is higher," Patton said.

A "Heartbreaking" Problem

The SPD Facebook post brought attention to this issue, and Devine hopes it can give users a "nudge" towards sobriety.

"It's heartbreaking to watch people die," he said. 

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