….and they view it as part of a trend.
P.S. Be sure and check out the psychedelic photo as well and the quote from Newton resident Darryl Settles
‘Failing’ newspaper makes note of Setti Warren’s expected run for governor
by Greg Reibman | May 15, 2017 | Setti Warren | 21 comments
I’m still cringing from the pic in The TAB that showed Warren sharing a chuckle with Baker at a Chamber of Commerce function. Dems need a kick-ass candidate for governor, not a kiss-ass. There’s a place for cordiality in politics, but not when the stakes are this high. Baker’s failure to understand and properly address the heroin epidemic in Massachusetts has cost thousands of lives. I want him to have an opponent who shoves that failure in his face every damn day of the campaign.
@Mike: In 2016, Massachusetts saw a 16% increase in opioid related deaths. However, under the leadership of Setti Warren, in the same year, Newton saw an unconscionable increase of 142%. In fact, of hundreds of communities in the Commonwealth, in terms of percentage increase, Newton nearly tops the list and dramatically outpaces nearly all others. For reference purposes, deaths in the entire City of Boston increased by roughly 30% as compared to Newton’s 142%.
To anyone who thinks that Setti Warren is capable of leading us to do better, think about that for a minute.
Tom, could you post a link to the data used in the analysis. I have to see this for myself. Thanks
Of course, Marti.
Link to stats: http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/stop-addiction/current-statistics/town-by-town-listings-may-2017.pdf
On a similar note, big news out of Taunton, which enacted the type of program that I’ve said Newton should get serious about years ago. Rather than place a box at a police station, they go directly to the doors of drug addicts to talk about treatment alternatives, and they’re now seeing an outstanding 80% decrease in fatal overdoses.
Link: http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/20170512/opioid-overdoses-down-sharply-in-taunton-so-far-this-year
Thank you, Tom. I see they appear to be counting according to where people live — which seems like the correct way to count, at least for purposes of targeting education efforts — as opposed to where the deaths occurred. But does anyone keep track of how many overdoses of Newton residents occurred elsewhere (maybe in places without Narcan?) and vice versa?
Also who knew that Ruthanne Fuller was a member of Parliament!
Thanks Tom for that link and information and Clarification.
@Tom, your broad interpretation of the data is ridiculous. It’s a fair to assume that many of the 17 opioid deaths in 2016 were at BC. You’re going to somehow hold the mayor accountable for that?
Michael
The deaths were counted as residents of Newton. How can you assume they were all at BC?? I think if there were 17 student deaths at BC – the press would have reported it? So should we assume that the 15 deaths in Waltham were at Brandeis??
@Michael: Listen to yourself. Rather than add something positive to the discussion, based on unfounded assumptions, you’re attacking my interpretation of an issue that has killed members of my family.
You clearly feel compelled to defend Setti Warren, so let me ask you a few questions: Why is it fair to assume that many of the 17 opioid deaths in 2016 were at BC? Are you a student or faculty member at BC who can verify this? Furthermore, to @Julia’s good point, do you or anyone else have the details regarding where these fatal overdoes took place? Do we know the ages of everyone who died? What do we know about them? How specifically did we attempt to help these individuals?
17 residents of Newton died in 2016, yet to the best of my knowledge, zero elected officials are publicly talking about what this means. To me, that alone speaks volumes, which is why you most certainly can count on me holding the Mayor accountable.
This reminds me of a story we saw in the Newton newspaper maybe 30 years ago that we still joke about today.
That year there was a rabies outbreak. A rabid racoon was reported wandering around a neighborhood near Newton Corner. The authorities were called and the racoon was verified as being rabid.
In the newspaper a neighbor was quoted “it must have come over from Brighton”.
Newton couldn’t possibly have its own rabies … or opioid problem.
I saw a news program yesterday highlighting opiod deaths of massachusetts residents being lured to florida for ineffective treatment by questionably unlawful traffickers who bill the feds for procedures that dont work. Are they counted on the state data? 17 deaths is the unacceptable tip of the opiod epidemic. As with any epidemic, first step is agreement it exists. Second is applying funds to build working solutions thru treatment. Also, police policies to divert identified users to treatment. No jail. Then, measure prevalence again! Anyone doing this in Newton?
Great posts on this thread! Circling back to my point… Massachusetts needs a Governor willing and capable to tackle the heroin epidemic from their first day in office. Baker is oblivious, and has done nothing but make the problem worse. He put more effort into trying to stop the ballot initiative that legalized cannabis, than he has in trying to slow down the heroin epidemic. Setti Warren on the other hand has remained remarkably silent on this issue, which has killed more than 1000 Massachusetts residents since the day he started talking about running for Governor. I hope people realize the true depth of this crisis facing our state, and understand that it’s going to take genuine leadership to fix it.
Frankly irresponsible to bandy about the suggestion that “many” of the 17 opiod deaths last year occurred at BC. How many student deaths total do you think occurred at BC in 2016 — 8, 10, 12, more? Whatever the causes of deaths, that would be a truly calamitous circumstance for one college.
Tom – I found this information in less than 90 seconds:
http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/health/humansvcs/opioid_prevention_awareness_treatment_n_hope/default.asp
My hometown, Needham, has very similar economic and social demographics to Newton and only had one death. Are we to believe that Needham has done something amazing to address the opioid issue? I can assure you that it has not.
So there’s certainly an empirical explanation for the 17 deaths in Newton, because that figure makes no sense compared to peer communities. And the primary difference that come to my mind is the significant student population.
Regardless, this is not a municipal issue; it’s something that needs to be addressed at the state and federal levels, and it’s a problem that can only be tackled with the cooperation of (and/or regulation of) the healthcare and pharmaceutical communities.
I’ve got no opinion on Setti Warren one way or the other – but to somehow blame municipal government for this is ridiculous. This is not a problem that City Hall can solve.
@Jane: Your link proves my point, which is that we aren’t doing anywhere near a good enough job at treating this public health crisis as it exists in Newton, which is evidenced by the unconscionable 142% increase in deaths.
Rather than pick apart each accomplishment listed on that site individually, how about we start with you telling me what you believe Mayor Warren’s top three accomplishments are. From there, I’ll share with you my perspective as to how we can do much better.
Similarly, since unspecified City Council members and other government officials are supposedly involved in the creation and implementation of PATH programs, please link us to the agendas and minutes from these meetings. I recall us having a disagreement re: who was appointed to a particular Health and Human Services committee, so I look forward to learning more specifically about how our elected officials other than the Mayor are combating this issue.
Thus far, Setti Warren’s primary approach is to hold “community meetings” that less than 0.002 percent of the community attends. If we were serious about getting this epidemic under control, we’d be going to the doors of drug addicts armed with information and individualized resources.
I’d finally note that if you look at the list of “accomplishments” listed on the PATH website, you’ll see two noteworthy points: 1) That the City is “Developing better data collection and tracking to identify key trends” and 2) that “Law enforcement instituting a new standard follow up for all substance use related calls to offer resources using police and social worker.”
My question is this: 17 residents died in the year 2016 because of opioid related deaths. We are well into 2017. Why in the world are said initiatives still in the development phase? Think deeply about that point for a minute or two.
PS Again, I’ve got no opinion about Setti Warren one way or the other, but @Tom said:
Lo and behold, three seconds of googling yields “City of Newton and Newton Wellesley announce a plan to combat opioid abuse” http://newton.wickedlocal.com/article/20170430/VIDEO/304309902
@Michael– Tom has a far better understanding of the opioid situation than you. It’s well past time we hold elected officials responsible for their failures, especially when they result in large numbers of unconscionable deaths. While Governor Baker deserves far more of the blame proportionately for the heroin epidemic, Mayor Warren has done next to nothing about it, despite being a gubernatorial candidate. The article/video you linked to above is about an initiative sponsored by NWH. There was a news conference the Mayor attended, but the initiative is not his.
@Michael: I’m not really sure how to respond to your baseless assertions, so I’m going to start with using facts to illustrate how Needham is demonstrably different than Newton.
You state, “My hometown, Needham, has very similar economic and social demographics to Newton and only had one death. Are we to believe that Needham has done something amazing to address the opioid issue? I can assure you that it has not.”
You are simply wrong, and here’s why. In 2004, there was a span of suicides in Needham. In response, leadership took initiative and created the Needham Suicide Prevention Coalition, which, amongst other things, included a Youth Education subcommittee. From this subcommittee grew what is now known as the Substance Prevention Alliance of Needham (SPAN).
Who is SPAN comprised of? In Needham, SPAN is comprised of leaders and stakeholders from key sectors of their community, including: Business leaders, community representatives, faith-based organizations, health care professionals, law enforcement, media, parents, school and public service officials, social service providers, state and local government agencies, youth, and youth serving representatives.
I’d further note that SPAN and similar committees in Needham meet at times of day that anyone who wants to attend could attend. In Newton, too many committees meet at unreasonable hours that inherently preclude particular members of the community from attending. Why do you think that is?
What approach does SPAN take to tackling drug and alcohol abuse? For starters, it has long incorporated a collaborative, community based, and data driven prevention approach to reduce alcohol, marijuana and other drug use among Needham’s youth. Furthermore, through community education, partnership and strategic action, SPAN has long worked to decrease the risk factors and increase the protective factors associated with substance use to enhance the health and safety of Needham’s youth.
Furthermore, SPAN breaks down the issues into specific categories, so that they can best coordinate efforts and resources. For instance, they have an Alcohol Action Team, a Marijuana Action Team, and a Prescription Drug Action Team.
As you correctly state, Needham usually has zero opioid related deaths. Needham has also long taken a demonstrably better approach to addressing the root causes of opioid related deaths specific to its community. In fact, it has used and continues to use its community – from high school kids to business leaders to everyone in between – to meaningfully participate in the process of figuring out solutions that work for Needham. Their results speak for themselves.
If you want to pretend that Mayor Warren has served our community well in the actions that he has taken, that’s your right. However, if you want to help improve the situation rather than distract us from his failures, you need to open your eyes and see the big picture.
I’d like to add that I see a problem in lumping multiple opiates and opioids under the singular banner of “opioid epidemic.” Like most states, Massachusetts has a serious problem with pain medication addiction. That problem is linked to heroin, because many patients are left with nowhere to turn after their pain medication is terminated, or they turn to heroin because it’s less expensive for them than filling a prescription at a pharmacy. So in my opinion, we are dealing with at least two unique issues. A serious problem with pain medications, and a genuine, full blown epidemic of heroin use. Baker and the legislature have exasperated both problems by injecting themselves legislatively into what should be a doctor/patient relationship. And many of the traditional institutions and facilities that treat heroin addiction have failed to change their outdated methodology to deal with the new wave of heroin addiction.