Record number of opioid deaths lead families, officials looking for solutions to stem the epidemic
Written By David Linton for The Sun Chronicle
Lynn Wencus of Wrentham lost her son, Jeff Wencus, to opioid addiction at age 33 in 2017. Wencus, seen here sitting in a backyard tribute garden planted to honor Jeff, pictured in photo frame, is among those who over several years have been calling for state legislation to create overdose prevention centers that would allow addicts to take drugs safely, monitored by medical professionals equipped with Narcan to prevent fatal overdoses. She said the centers would be cheaper than jailing users and would steer people to treatment and away from emergency rooms. “Each year we wait, we lose more lives,” Wencus said. MARK STOCKWELL / THE SUN CHRONICLE
July 8, 2023
The day state health officials announced a record number of deaths due to opioid-related overdoses last month, a coalition held an event at the Statehouse to promote legislation to create a novel way of stemming the carnage.
Among those in the group was Lynn Wencus, 70, of Wrentham, whose son Jeffrey died of an overdose in 2017 at the age of 33.
Since her son’s death, 12,716 people in the state have died of opioid-related overdoses, including a record of 2,357 last year.
Although troubled, Wencus said she was not surprised deaths have reached a record. She said politicians have to “think outside the box” to stem the epidemic.
The legislation Wencus and a host of others support calls for creating overdose prevention centers to allow addicts to take drugs safely, monitored by medical professionals equipped with Narcan to prevent fatal overdoses.
The drugs would be tested to make sure they do not contain fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid police and health officials say is responsible for the record deaths.
Rhode Island enacted a pilot program in 2021 and last month Connecticut legislators approved a bill. New York City started a program in 2021 used by more than 2,000 people in its first year and reversed 600 overdoses, according to the ACLU of Massachusetts.
“There’s no way in hell the state of Massachusetts or any other state in the country is going to win the war on drugs,” Wencus said. “It’s a fallacy.”
But each year, Wencus said, efforts to approve legislation to create overdose prevention centers have failed.
“Each year we wait, we lose more lives,” she said. “Overdose deaths are preventable. Yes, they are illegal drugs, but people are going to use drugs anyway.”
At the centers, Wencus said, a doctor will be able to treat people for infections or other dangerous medical conditions and other workers will be available to provide information to get people food, shelter and treatment. “There are hundreds of them across the world,” she said. “It’s just the United States that is behind the eight ball.”
The centers would be cheaper than putting users in jail, they would steer people to treatment and people wouldn’t be crowding emergency rooms, Wencus said.
“I don’t think people realize that this is a public health emergency. We’re not doing anything about it,” Wencus said.
Former Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, and former U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, opposed the idea. Lelling had threatened to deploy “law enforcement” if any site opened in the state.
However, Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, has voiced support and the state Department of Public Health will conduct a feasibility study. It will update a 2019 legislative commission study and examine issues such as legal barriers at the federal level as well as funding and experiences in Rhode Island and New York.
The proposal has the support of some in the medical community.
In a statement released the day of the Statehouse event, Dr. Miriam Komaromy, medical director of Boston Medical Center’s Grayken Center for Addiction, and a member of the coalition called MA4OPC, supported the idea.
“The establishment of Overdose Prevention Centers is our very top priority. Why? Because it is an evidence-based intervention that can stop deaths right now, today,” she said.
The reason more people are dying, according to state health officials, police and social service workers, is the drug supply is poisoned by fentanyl, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
One gram of fentanyl can kill between 300 to 500 people, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
The synthetic opioid is mixed with most street drugs, like heroin, cocaine and marijuana, and was involved in 93 percent of deaths in which a toxicology screen was performed, according to the state DPH.
“People don’t even know they are taking it,” said Jane Burgess, executive director of the North Cottage Program Inc., a residential substance abuse treatment in Norton that is licensed by the DPH.
“Fentanyl is in everything. You see it more and more. It’s in cocaine, it’s in meth, it’s in marijuana, it’s in vapes,” Paula Young, president of the New Bedford-based nonprofit Achieve Greatness.
Young’s 33-year-old son Andrew Santos died in March 2022 after smoking marijuana he did not know was laced with fentanyl. Young speaks at schools and civic groups to create awareness about the dangers of the drug.
She said the popularity of vapes among children age 9 to 17 and the potential for the devices to be contaminated with fentanyl could be disastrous.
“Let’s face it, kids 9 to 17 are going to experiment, but this is not our parents’ recreational drugs anymore,” Young said. “Your first try can be your last.”
The term “overdose” is a misnomer, she said, because people are taking substances not realizing they are laced with fentanyl and dying. “That’s fentanyl poisoning,” Young said.
In local communities
In North Attleboro, where opioid deaths jumped from eight to 10 last year, police Capt. Jason Roy said there was a death the day The Sun Chronicle asked for comment about the state statistics.
He said there have been three so far this year, adding that most occur historically in town during the summer months.
“I think there is no doubt that fentanyl is playing a big part in recent overdose deaths. The lethality of fentanyl should be scaring people. Sadly, it has permeated the country and can likely be found in most communities,” Roy said in an email.
Attleboro, the area’s largest community, saw 21 deaths last year for a decline of one from 2021. Police Chief Kyle Heagney agreed fentanyl is polluting the drug supply. But he said “some of the users are going to chase the fentanyl.”
Jennifer Knight-Levin, CEO of the SAFE Coalition, which provides support services for people with substance abuse disorder, was not surprised by the increase on opioid deaths.
“We have been working with a lot of people who have relapsed in the last year,” Knight-Levin said.
While the state experienced a 2.5 percent increase in deaths, 2,357 in 2022 from 2,300 in 2021, Bristol County saw a decline to 277 in 2022 from 293 in 2021. Norfolk County saw three fewer deaths during that period.
The 10 towns in The Sun Chronicle readership area saw a 22.2% drop, from 63 deaths in 2021 to 49 in 2022, according to the state’s preliminary statistics. Norton experienced the largest decrease, with 15 in 2021 and four in 2022.
Police, health officials and social service workers say there are various reasons for the decline of opioid deaths in Bristol County and in The Sun Chronicle readership area.
They say it could be the wider availability of Narcan, a chemical that reverses the effects of an opioid, the interdiction of the fentanyl supply by law enforcement and other prevention efforts.
“There is no question that Narcan is a lifesaver,” said Roy, whose officers carry it in their cruisers and have used it 33 times since January 2022.
“There are people so desperate for that high that we’ve had to Narcan them over consecutive days,” Roy said.
Norton Police Chief Brian Clark, whose officers also administer Narcan, was among those who believe the number of opioid-related deaths could be even higher if it weren’t for the substance.
“We use it, I don’t want to say regularly, but throughout the year, especially if we are the first on scene before the firefighters,” Clark said.
Also, Clark said, it isn’t uncommon for police or first responders to arrive and find that a family member or friend has already administered Narcan.
Still, Knight-Levin said that many people may not be aware of Narcan but added that will change due to a rule change in the state allowing it to be available over the counter.
Officials are also bracing for yet another dangerous substance that has entered the mix with fentanyl called xylazine, also called “tranq.” It is a highly sedating animal tranquilizer that is resistant to Narcan.
Area police say it is not believed to have hit the area, but earlier this year the DEA said it has been found in the state and the state DPH said it was present in 5% of those who died.
Awareness and prevention efforts and getting addicts into treatment are key to reducing the number of deaths, according to police, advocates and health officials.
Police are working with local agencies more than they used to and have formed alliances with mental health and substance abuse centers.
In addition, police in Attleboro, Mansfield and Norton have special divisions called Problem Orientated Policing units. The units follow up on mental health and substance abuse calls and get people into treatment by working with families and the court system, if necessary.
Attleboro, Norton, Mansfield and Foxboro police also have either a clinician or a licensed social worker who works with the POP teams on the streets with officers.
“There’s definitely more follow up in the last few years than there ever was,” Clark said.
Groups such as The Norton Opioid Prevention and Education Collaborative, established in 2016, and the Bristol County Alliance created by the Bristol County district attorney’s office, bring together state and local officials to discuss strategies on how to deal with the opioid crisis, Clark said.
Although some people are still becoming addicted through pain medication prescribed by doctors after surgeries, Burgess said many are addicted because of their lifestyle.
“They got involved and experimented at an early age,” Burgess said.
The state does a better job at getting people treatment than many other states, Burgess said, but she and others say there is still a shortage of beds at treatment facilities.
North Cottage is the largest treatment facility in the state with 146 beds for adult men and has always had a waiting list, Burgess said.
The shortage is “across the board,” in detox facilities, residential facilities and transitional support services, according to Burgess.
Although North Cottage is fully staffed, Burgess said many other facilities are not due to people not returning after leaving work during the height of the COVID pandemic.
The lack of beds or other obstacles can contribute to an increase in opioid deaths, Burgess said, if addicts can’t get help when they need it.
“There is a short window. If someone wants to get help you have to do it in that window because afterwards they may not want to get help. It takes a lot for someone to ask for help,” Burgess said.
Addicts in treatment use medical assisted treatment such as suboxone or methadone, which are “harm reduction” methods that lower the risk of relapsing, Burgess said.
“Harm reduction is helping people stay alive,” Burgess said.
No one wants a person to relapse and use again, Burgess said, but if they do they are urged to not use alone, have Narcan with them and use clean needles.
Many who struggle with opioid addiction use marijuana as a harm reduction method, Knight-Levin said. Although legal for individuals 21 or over, she said its use is against the rules for addicts in sober homes.
After leaving or getting kicked out of a sober home, she said, the individuals are often homeless and relapse from the stress.
“Many of the people we work with struggle after they leave a sober home,” Knight-Levine said.
Stopping fentanyl
In order to reduce the deaths from opioids, some like Young believe that the government has to stop the supply of fentanyl into the country and declare the drug a weapon of mass destruction.
According to a DEA report in 2019, the primary source of fentanyl comes from China although it is also manufactured in India and by drug cartels in Mexico.
Legislation pending in Congress calls for declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction to empower the government to go after international trafficking syndicates and root out illicit manufacturers and traffickers in order to stop fentanyl from reaching the border, according to Families Against Fentanyl.
Families Against Fentanyl is a nonprofit group founded by Jim Rauh, an Akron, Ohio, chemical engineer whose son died of fentanyl poisoning.
In September, a coalition of mostly Republican attorneys general wrote a letter urging President Joe Biden make an immediate declaration or support the legislation.
For Young, who supports the federal legislation, putting an end to the deaths is not a partisan issue.
“This is not a Democrat or Republican issue,” Young said. “This is a United States of America issue.”