Heroin problem in Massachusetts and Anthony Bourdain's spotlight on it
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I saw the episode. I don't think it unfairly portreyed any particular community. Sure, they chose to highlight examples in Western MA, but there was a lot of talk about it being a statewide (and even nationwide) epidemic. I'm actually dating someone who lost her fiance to a heroin OD. He lost his job and started using without her knowledge (she, like me, is sort of naive when it comes to drugs and signs of use). She noticed differences in his personality, but never tied the two together. She came home one day a little over a year ago to find him slumped over the couch armrest, cell phone still in-hand. This was in Southeastern MA. It's a major problem here, just not one that affects everyone directly. I have mixed feelings on the Heroin issue, but that's a different topic.
I saw the episode as an excuse for Bourdain to highlight his young adulthood in MA, drug use, and some of the current issues that still exist in this state. Greenfield was the focal point, but the fact that this was a statewide issue was hardly ignored (The episode and drug discussion begins in highly reputed Cape Cod). Greenfield was probably just more willing to cooperate with film crews than other hard hit areas in the state (like Fall River, Taunton and New Bedford).
As a MA resident, I was glad to see the issue highlighted in regions like Western MA and Cape Cod. It would have been easy to highlight the issue in Brockton, Lawrence, Holyoke, Fall River, etc. For MA residents, that would be so unsurprising that it could be considered beating a dead horse. Even quick google searches would give national viewers a pretty good idea of what they're dealing with in those cities. Picking Cape Cod and Western Mass.- two regions popular with visitors from out of state- is more eye opening, and frankly, a bit bolder than saying "OMG look- there's a drug problem in _______ city which has been burned out and had a negative reputation for decades."
I get that people in Western Mass are a little butthurt about it. It's a rural region and a generally quieter region than Eastern MA. When I lived in Maine, I remember an article coming out about drug issues (meth, actually) in rural Maine and people were up in arms because the article "shined a negative light on their beautiful, quiet region." The reaction from Western MA residents is eerily similar. I don't know what it is about people living in rural areas that makes them think that if they choose to ignore the problems in their region that everyone else should. It's a beautiful region. That's been documented time and time again. Drugs are a major issue there (and elsewhere). That hasn't been highlighted nearly as much. The reality is that if you Google "Western Massachusetts" or "Berkshires," you'll get a lot of results for "things to do" or tourism related websites. Coverage for that region is generally very positive. It certainly doesn't hurt to shed some light on a less popular topic once in a while, just like it doesn't hurt when a city like Fall River, Brockton, Lawrence or Holyoke gets some positive press every now and then. Western Mass. isn't Mayberry and we shouldn't pretend it is. However, the majority of the press for Western MA will continue to be positive and deservedly so.
Did anyone catch Anthony Bourdain's episode on Massachusetts last weekend? If not I think they might rerun it on Sunday on CNN. The show started out with him reminiscing his youth and debauchery in Provincetown back in the 70's. In the later half he went out to Western Mass and focused on the rampant heroine problem in the town of Greenfield, mentioning that I-91 is known as heroine highway with heavy distribution of the drug in Western Mass and on up into Vermont.
The problem is rooted with prescription opiates and progresses into heroine addiction. It's a nationwide issue as I once saw a documentary show on Salt Lake City where even heavily Mormon suburban communities are being affected by the problem. I lived in Massachusetts most of my life and I always knew in the back of my mind that heroine was a serious problem in the commonwealth. Watching Bourdain's focus on Western Mass and seeing these beautiful communities being ravaged by this problem, I found to be really disheartening. I didn't know just how bad it really was.
Heroin is devastating many, many communities. It is not only in Vermont and Mass. it is everywhere. The New Jersey Shore saw 136 deaths in 2013, and many in 2014. One of the issues is that communities hide their problems, especially areas where tourists frequent, therefore, nothing is resolved. Now, two years' later, New Jersey is beginning to addressed the problem.
Heroin is cheap, Heroin is deadly, Heroin destroys lives and families. It is very hard to get a person rehab from it, once a person is addicted, and the person maybe non-functional for the rest of its life. The most devastating thing to observed is a woman giving birth to a Heroin-addicted baby. I have worked 30 years in Emergency Rooms, and have seen the devastation. Communities have to addressed the problem fully, and demand action........NOT HIDE IT......
The man, Estuardo Leonel Melgar Perez, 34, of Guatemala, had a 14-inch incision in his abdomen, the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office said.
Team 5 reported the body had been cut open to retrieve the drugs. Jose Milthon Freddy Azurdia-Montenegro, 55, of Guatemala, was charged with one count of misleading a police investigation.
Maybe, just maybe we should enforce our borders? There are tons of benefits for this: it would for one decrease the drug trade coming from our southern border and it would maybe provide some lower end jobs for citizens at reasonable wages.
But anyone who is not gungho about open borders and millions of illegal immigrants getting asylum, receiving our social welfare, and thus encouraging even more illegal immigration must be a racist or heartless Republican.
Haven't seen any more recent numbers from the more recent half of this year.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
