December Sees Spike In Massachusetts Opiate Overdoses

Heroin is cheap these days, certainly cheaper then prescription oxycodone and other narcotic painkillers that are a route to heroin, addiction and maybe overdoses.

In a 10-year period, the number of overdoses in the state has increased by 90 percent. As of Tuesday morning, just for the month of December, 110 people in Massachusetts had died from a suspected opiate overdose. That number doesn't even include Boston, Worcester or Springfield. In Boston, the city's public health commission says 118 doses of Narcan have been administered by first responders. In many cases, Narcan can almost immediately reverse an overdose.

Hillary Jacobs, former director of the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse.

John Carmichael, Walpole deputy chief of police.

The Boston Globe: Groups Unite Against Curbing Painkillers