Disturbing statistics from Wicked Local Newton.
The increase in opioid overdoses and deaths has hit Newton especially hard, with the number increasing dramatically from 2015 to 2016, according to Newton Public Health Commissioner Deborah Youngblood. In 2015 there were 57 reported opioid overdoses in Newton; that number soared to 75 in 2016. In 2016, 17 of those overdoses were fatal, up from seven the year before, an increase of 140 percent.
This report is leaves much to be desired. To know if these numbers mean anything, one needs to know how much these numbers fluctuate from year to year over more than two years. It is entirely possibly that 2015 happened to be a “good” year for Newton, which makes 2016 look bad in comparison. Is something special happening in Newton that’s not happening in nearby towns? Seems unlikely to me. The article also jumps back and forth between overdoses and deaths. Would have been nice to just have a table summarizing all this data for each town.
That said, the statewide numbers are genuinely scary.
I still can’t understand why opioids, that really do addict and kill people, seem to be readily available while getting in the pipeline for medical marijuana, which doesn’t kill people, is so bureaucratically difficult to obtain. I’ve never used marijuana and thank goodness I don’t need is for pain relief; but I have friends that are in serious pain and would really like to try a regulated prescription in place of opioids. What they had to go through to get medical marijuana is intolerable, inhumane and totally unnecessary and some still haven’t cleared the bureaucratic maze.
This all traces back to societal fear that have been handed down through several generations because of intense and irrational propaganda against marijuana from the 1920’s right up to recent times. I recall so many localities that hit the barricades against regulated medical marijuana because they were convinced it would attract criminals, homeless people and “violent dope addicts”. I know there are bad side effects from use of too much marijuana, but this is crazy.
Yes my friends there are drugs in our city and in our schools. Addiction and drug abuse cuts across all socio-economic and class boundaries as does spousal abuse and alcoholism.
Pot, cocaine, pills & LSD were readily available in the Newton junior and high schools 40 years ago when I went to them, they were available 6 years ago when my oldest was at South, and they are available now as my youngest is preparing to graduate. There are young people with a lot of money at their disposal, little supervision and
regular exposure to individuals wanting to sell them drugs. All the safe and strong propaganda/rear end covering from the school department is no substitute for engaged and aware parents and citizens. Opioid
addiction can capture someone who is in chronic pain from an injury or recovering from surgery. This is a scary time with very potent drugs available with little margin for error if one abuses them..
First of all, this epidemic is hitting every community very hard and until we face up to that fact, we won’t make progress in dealing with it effectively. For cities and town to think that they can remain in a bubble when an individual can drive 3 miles to a nearby community to obtain the drugs is naive at best.
The data over time and place is very troubling, as the opioid epidemic moves northward at a steady pace over a period of years. While I’m very concerned about drug use in our schools, my personal experience indicates that young adults in their 20’s are at very high risk for opioid addiction and few (or no) safety nets exist to assist these young people who are on their own and unattached to a network or community. Their families are doing the best they can to deal with an adult child spiraling out of control. It’s a nightmare.
This is not a local problem – it’s a societal problem. But as Bob and Mike Striar point out, the local contribution to the crisis is the refusal of this city to provide safe pain management through the approval of a legalized marijuana dispensary. I have no patience with people who say NIMBY. For crying out loud, you can put it in my front yard for all I care. Just get it done.
Totally agree Jane. You are aware that we do have a dispensary in Newton,yes? There is a building on washington street that houses the Newton dispensary. They share building space with my optometrist.
I have a friend and an acquaintance that suffer debilitating pain from colitis and they have both have found
relief from medical marijuana.
A colleague who has migranes has used it with some success.
A friend
from high school was prescribed pain pills for a bad ankle injury that made him nauseous and were ineffective. His doctor suggested trying a cream infused with THC and he can’t believe how well it works. The opioid problem will eventually affect someone that we all know, so it is incumbent upon all of us to have a hand in helping solve it
@Bob — Agree about the bureaucracy. If it is indeed ‘medical’ marijuana, why is it not sold at pharmacies, where there is an existing infrastructure in place? There are certainly more dangerous medicines that pharmacies handle (oxy).
Just for clarification… The opening of the medical marijuana dispensary in Newton was delayed nearly four years as a result of the ill conceived moratorium passed by the [then] Board of Aldermen. Although the Aldermen eventually reversed the moratorium, they did so on a timeline that caused license applicants to miss a critical State deadline. The Aldermen also created zoning that effectively eliminated the possibility of a grow facility in Newton. This forced the single license applicant in Newton to go through the entire process a second time in a second municipality for a grow facility, before they were able to complete the application process.
On one hand, Mayor Warren says: “Three or four years ago as I saw the opioid epidemic affect Newton we looked at the data and numbers we knew we had to have a deliberate effort in the city to counter what is happening.” On the other hand, he says: “We need community based life long care.”
Based on his most recent statements, I have two questions for the Mayor: 1) Can he name a single person from the community who has successfully overcome opioid abuse that serves on this task force in a meaningful capacity? And 2) how much more money did he directly invest into combating opioid abuse in his most recent budget?
If you look at communities which have created successful programs to combat this public health epidemic, they generally have something in common, which is that those directly affected by the problem are meaningfully part of the process of solving it.
In Newton, despite repeatedly asking the Mayor how these very people can get involved, I’ve seen no such engagement. As such, perhaps the Tab has more information in regard to how PATH actually goes about solving the opioid epidemic in Newton? How specifically does the program connect our drug addicts with necessary education and resources? How does it identify them so as to proactively address the problem before it gets out of hand? What about their families, what types of support are we offering the kids in our school system who witness these overdoses? What types of meaningful opportunities are we producing for those most in need?
In my opinion, especially given the 142% increase in deaths, we deserve to have these and more questions answered.