Towns Hardest Hit With OD Deaths; Some Suprises (Lowell, Lynn: neighborhoods, live in)

[massnative71]

Upscale towns (or many of them) have had just as severe a heroin problem as anywhere else. There was an article not too long ago (think in the Patriot Ledger) about the spike in Scituate, and how they say it has gotten as bad or worse as Weymouth.

[Cliff Clavin]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Upscale towns (or many of them) have had just as severe a heroin problem as anywhere else. There was an article not too long ago (think in the Patriot Ledger) about the spike in Scituate, and how they say it has gotten as bad or worse as Weymouth.

Wealthy folks hide it better as they're generally not buying dope on the streets, shooting up in parked cars, or turning tricks and breaking into homes to support their habit.

[Cape Cod Todd]

I was thinking the same thing that heroine use has to do with wealth or not and poor people in poor towns/cities would have a higher rate but that is not true. I saw my home town in there and overall it is a nice town but like so many it has its problems. I also saw a few Cape Cod towns.

I wonder if the death rates from over doses can be linked to programs? If people are bored which often leads ot depression they tend to turn to drugs for a kick and get hooked.

There is a new cheaper drug being used called enzo I think that is carried by first responders and administered like an epie pen. It brings people back from the brink of death and is cheaper than the $40 per dose Narcan which does the same.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Upscale towns (or many of them) have had just as severe a heroin problem as anywhere else. There was an article not too long ago (think in the Patriot Ledger) about the spike in Scituate, and how they say it has gotten as bad or worse as Weymouth.

That wouldn't surprise me about Situate, it's gotten better but I wouldn't consider it upscale.

[scratchie]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

Yes, Ipswich is a surprise. So is West Bridgewater, but I'm shocked at Ipswich.

I've always thought of Ipswich as a hard-drinking, scrappy little town. It's gotten more desirable in recent years but the roots run deep. A friend of mine (Ipswich native) likes to point out that it supposedly has one of the highest ratios of bars to residents in Massachusetts. Which, I guess, is my way of saying that I don't find it particularly surprising, but then again, heroin can become popular in any sort of town, from poor to very rich, so it shouldn't actually be surprising if it turns up in *any* town.

[pennyone]

Upscale or not, the problem is in epidemic proportion. Small and affluent towns that seem clean and "upscale" are often simply "exporters" of this problem through their NIMBYism and their higher real estate prices. They hardly ever allow or have social services like detox and recovery clinics/centers within their borders due to "traffic" and other concerns. Hence the bigger cities end up taking their social problems. Addicts migrate to lower cost cities for cheaper housing and social support like shelters and free food through church groups and state funded or subsidized homes. Of course, smaller towns have "benefits" and "food drives" to support these social services in larger cities, in part, to make sure that their own social problems migrate away and stay out of their towns. It's hard to hear but it's true.

I volunteer at Quincy's Father Bill's two times a month most time of the year, and over the summer, I try to go three or four times each month. I help them with the accounts and make lots of sandwiches, and what I see often is that, on a yearly basis, about 30% of the residents are from Quincy, and the rest from Milton, Braintree and Hingham etc. Some are migrants from Boston because it's generally safer to be in a smaller support system than in the big ones run by Boston. Many of these homeless people are drug addicts or recoving addicts who are fathers, mothers, sons and daughters from all over the South Shore and Boston. Many of them also relapse in their recovery effort and they end up either dying from overdose or commit suicide. It's really a tragedy and to assume that "upscale" towns have very little or no opiate and heroin addiction problem is simply wrong. If you allow for population difference, these residents' "place of origin" prove that no town or socio-economic class is exempt from this problem.

[in_newengland]

I really thought Gloucester would make the list. Ipswich doesn't surprise me too much--if you just drive through you see the new condos and houses and the lovely antique houses but there's an old gritty side to Ipswich too.

Ware is # 1. I lived there for a little while and it is an isolated, horrible place. It's cut off from the rest of the world by Quabbin and so people can't get jobs and there's nothing to do. Sad place.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Ware is # 1. I lived there for a little while and it is an isolated, horrible place. It's cut off from the rest of the world by Quabbin and so people can't get jobs and there's nothing to do. Sad place.

I too lived in Ware for a brief time during the 80s. Sad little mill town in the middle of nowhere but with fairly easy access to the Pike via Palmer.

[AtkinsonDan]

Here is a blurb about opiate addiction found in an article about an interview with the senate president from the Lowell Sun.

Senate President Rosenberg: T needs new oversight - Lowell Sun Online

In a wide-ranging hourlong interview, Rosenberg also spoke of the Senate's proposed budget, which includes funding for 150 additional opiate-treatment beds. Opiate overdoses have risen the highest in Middlesex County, and Lowell-area officials have called for additional inpatient beds at Tewksbury State Hospital.

Those additional beds could be in Tewksbury, Rosenberg said.

[BitofEndearment]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

A full statewide ranking of all 351 cities and towns would be interesting to see.

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/i...es-by-town.pdf