Middlesex County, Massachusetts – It has been recorded over 33 fatal overdoses since March 1, in Middlesex County, according to the district attorney’s office.
Since the beginning of the year through April 7, state police have responded over 65 overdose deaths, where about 45 were on opiates. Deaths due to overdose have risen alarmingly since 2012. In 2015, there were 55 confirmed opiate-related deaths, where about 35 still pending a ruling from the medical examiner.
Over 32 days, and using the data from the country’s six biggest Emergency Medical Service (EMS) companies, the office found over 275 Narcan interventions were made, an average of 7.6 interventions per day. Narcan is a drug that can temporally reverse an overdose, saving countless lives over this case.
Marian Ryan, who is the Middlesex District Attorney, issued a call for action as an answer to the spike of overdose deaths, calling to the members of the community to provide resources to everyone who suffers from addiction.
“As I have said many times, this is a public health crisis. This is a community crisis. We need the community to step forward and help us,” Ryan stated that the attorney’s office wants to be saving lives this weekend.
The Attorney office also announced that “this conservative estimate gives a glimpse into the severity of the problem and is not necessarily inclusive of all Narcan doses administered by police, fire, or other reversals that may be administered by friends and family.”
How the Government is dealing with this
The Republican Gov. Charlie Barker signed a legislation last month for fighting the opioids addiction, where this new law will include a seven-day limit for first-time prescriptions for opiate painkillers and requires that people treated for overdose in hospital emergency rooms to be first evaluated, and later giving them another treatment within 24 hours.
Also, Ryan spoke at a press conference at her office in Woburn, surrounded by chiefs and top officers from a dozen of police departments, as well with ambulance and fire officials, since this might make the “community cares” feeling on this alarming issue.
Therefore, the Narcan is not a complete “miracle” solution to this overdosing problem, since anyone who administers it to a person overdosing should still make sure that person quickly receives medical attention because Narcan can wear off before heroin does.
Dr. Brian O’Connor from Middlesex Recovery in Woburn stated that you can Narcan somebody, but if they have enough heroin on board once the Narcan wears off, they could overdose again from the same injection, so as said before, and the Narcan is not the best option for this.
Source: Boston Herald