22News InFocus Opioid Task Force

from our 22 News broadcast Center this is 22 News info good afternoon and welcome to 22 News In Focus I'm Sia speller according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health opioid related overdose deaths in the state continues to be a public health issue there were over 2300 confirmed and estimated opioid related overdose deaths in 2022 in the first 3 months of this year there were 522 opioid related deaths a national opioid crisis brought to light over the Pres over the overprescribing of painkillers leading to lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies and corporate pharmacies so today on 22 News and focus we're looking into the efforts of the opioid task force of Franklin County and the north Quabbin region to help reduce the number of deaths from opioids and support people in recovery from addiction so joining me now our Northwestern district attorney David Sullivan who co-chairs the opioid task force and Liz why not director of harm reduction services with tapestry Health we want to thank both of you for being on the program today thanks for having us yeah thank you so da Sullivan I want to begin with you and I want to ask you what is the opioid task force and when and why was it created the opiate task force is based in Franklin County and the north cabin region and it's a public private partnership uh where we try to address uh the crisis of opioids in our community the overdoses and the overdose deaths um so we formed almost 10 over 10 years ago and now have six professional staff uh that are working with the opiate task force and with the community and so what is your mission our mission is to reduce uh opioid addiction and also to prevent overdose deaths and non- ferality deaths and non non FID alties rather and I also want to ask you how many organizations within the community partner with the task force and how do you decide which is a good fit for the task force the uh task force from the very beginning is community based we have over over 400 members and that includes anybody from we have harm reduction tapestry we have educational institutions we have treatment facilities we have hospitals we have law enforcement uh Sheriff donland who is the co-chair of the um task force uh is involved with his Sheriff's Department uh Probate Court other courts just a wide variety of folks including uh folks that are in recovery and and their family members so we want to be as inclusive as we can can so that we can build Solutions based upon Community needs and Community wants and looking at initiatives you know what are some of the initiatives that you offer some of the initiatives that we have uh we we base our uh task force off of five committees so uh the first one is Health Care Solutions where we work on different solutions uh for in the health care field we also have an education committee where we work with schools and we work with Community groups to educate folks about about the overdose we have a treatment recovery which uh Liz can talk about in a little bit and that's very important uh work work workplace development and also housing and then uh the last one um is about that recovery part of uh what we do yeah and so we hear a lot about this issue in hamton County but what are some of the issues specific to rural areas when it comes to Addiction Services it's so difficult in a rural area because of transportation and also the lack of out patient impatient treatment back in 2013 there wasn't a single acute treatment bed in all of Franklin County North kaben that's over 35 communities that had no real ability to receive acute treatment without having to go to hamon or Worcester or Boston um so working in a rural community is very different it's great because we've had the communities Buy in from the very beginning it's very very important that we emphasize how important that community members are and one of the key persons to our task force has been Dr Ruth poti who works uh with the the sheriff uh as the physician for the jail but also is a addiction specialist and she's given us great advice on how to address the opioid situation and Liz I just have some numbers here so the dph reported that Massachusetts in 2022 had 47% of all opioid related overdose deaths and there were people between 25 and 44 43% were between 45 and 64 and males comprise 72% of all opioid related overdose deaths so what are the demographics you're seeing in your region when it comes to these deaths uh that's a good question um so just I just want to say that tapestri harm reduction programs we operate in Franklin Hampshire and hamon County and we uh now provide syringe services in 11 different communities um and so for Franklin County we provide services in Greenfield and monteu um I there I the trends are similar to the data uh we're seeing a rise and overdoses across the age span but the I think the biggest number of increases happen between 35 and 44 um it's unfortunate but it's being seen across the entire lifespan yeah and so two words that we're hearing a lot right now are fanal and xylazine um you know now there are ways to T to test these drugs before someone uses them but how are these drugs getting mixed into heroin and cocaine yeah so the heroin Supply I won't go into it but it's it's changed drastically in terms of where the drugs are coming from so maybe 10 or 15 years ago we could you you could trace it back to a a a crop in somewhere in South America or something like that and then with the opioid epidemic and then um The Rise I guess and people using and then just things that have happened after that the there's been a change where the the the heroin coming from like crops is being reduced drastically and it's going more into um some kind of lab setting all over the world um and the being able to pay attention to what's in the drugs at a specific time is just getting more and more complicated um so over the past over the past year or two we've seen a drastic increase in xylazine and fenol has been um drastically increasing in the drug Supply within Pro probably the past 10 years or so um fentanyl is much stronger than heroin but it is important to know that Narcan does reverse uh a fentanyl overdose xylazine has come to the drug Market I think um really in in response to trying to um expand or lengthen the the the amount of time that someone is high it's a um it's a a sedative for veterinary use so they've come into the drug Market because the drug Market is changing um there's really no good way to put it other than that and I think that like it'll continue to change and it'll just get more and more volatile as long as um things continue the way they are all right we thank both of you for your Insight and we're going to continue our conversation in just a minute when we return we'll be discussing some of the programs offered through the opioid task force you're watching 22 News In [Music] Focus we're back now with 22 News in focus and today's topic is on the work being done by the opioid task force of Franklin County and the north cabin region in the past people who had committed crimes to get money for drugs went to jail and may not have have gotten treatment that they needed and the support for when they were released and when a person especially a parent is incarcerated the entire family is impacted in recent years the incarceration treatment and support model has all changed so we're going to bring in our guest again da Sullivan my first question for you how are people assessed now when they're arrested for drug-related crimes well it's changed dramatically uh first of all Sheriff Chris donin uh who is in charge of the Franklin House of Correction in jail has been very Progressive in making sure that people are immediately assessed by a booking officer uh and then by a clinical nurse that's in that facility so that they can get the right treatment at the right time and and be able to get inductions for uh ppin orphin or Methadone in a timely way so it's really changed and I think the attitude toward not only myself as district attorney but law enforcement and the sheriff is that this is a disease it's a chronic disease that needs to be treated that way like you would treat diabetes or heart conditions so it's dramatically flipped that it's not an arrest model but a treatment model and so you mentioned treatment so Liz you know I want to ask you what are the treatment options when somebody is incarcerated well I think the da can also speak to this um so what I will say is that again we work in Franklin Hampshire and hamen County and we have interactions with the um each of the jail settings and I've personally been very impressed by seeing the changes that have happened since the opioid task force has started in Greenfield um I you know I think it's really important and it was such a good move to provide access to medication for opioid use disorder as soon as the person enters into jail and then in the Franklin County Jail there's also it's it it runs in a social work model so there's people that work with the individual while they're incarcerated and then helps them integrate back into the community um and just comparatively I've I've from my observation I've I've found that to be the best like the most Forward Thinking in terms of um a law enforcement and I think also the modality it's dialectical behavior therapy where they work one on one with individuals also group therapy um so they can change their behavior so it's just not finding um a medication but also finding a long-term solution so that as they move forward in life that they don't depend on these substances and I want to ask you D Selvin what is the Franklin Family drug court and what are the surfaces that are offered the family the Franklin family uh drug courts very unique uh there's I think six in the country and they were able to get a federal Grant so they work directly with the Franklin um probate and family court and they give wraparound services to people with substance used to disorders uh whether it's alcohol or opioid used disorders and what's really important is that they have counselors they have uh recovery coaches they have a a clinical nurse all these things that sometimes they slip through the cracks and probate and family court um many times people would come in they'd leave but they'd never be assessed for that kind of uh addiction or that kind of uh problems that arise out of that addiction so it's really helpful for children and Ames to have that type of a wraparound service at the family drug court yeah Liz could we have you touch on the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Access website and what people will find if they visit that website um you know to be honest I'm not too familiar with that website I I know that it's its intention is to access treatment and and to go on there uh and to to find things right away um it's it's difficult because the reality is that there just is a a shortage of treatment options in western Mass and like the da said earlier in rural areas like Franklin County it's really really tough um so it's good to think of ways like through the website of of access uh but we also need to continue to think about like how to provide actual care um including treatment beds um so that's really where I I I uh I hope to see more of I guess and what we're always trying to trying to struggle to get more of right and there's also the substance use helpline correct yes yes you know one sorry one thing I do want to mention is the Massachusetts overdose prevention line um it's overseen by dph and what it is is it's a phone number that you can call if you end up using opioids alone so one of the main things is that most deaths from overdose happen when the person's using a loan and it's really important to use with others however there's a lot of stigma and it's it's it's tough for people that use um and I was just I was thinking about this earlier that a a a colleague of mine in Massachusetts he um was really well known and has did a lot of great work and he was abstinent for over a decade and then he ended up using alone and he died and I feel like that's happening more and more so we need to get more and more creative in terms of helping people to not use a loan so this so the Massachusetts overdose prevention line um is a really good and important option for people and the substance abuse a hotline that Massachusetts runs is very important because it it gives resources for recovery for treatment uh to make sure that people uh can get linked into those uh as quickly as possible okay there really is so much to cover here with this topic but we're going to continue our conversation after a short break you're watching 22 News In [Music] Focus thanks for staying with us you're watching 22 News in focus and we're discussing the services offered through the opioid taskforce of Franklin County and the north Quabbin region the opioid task force has a rapid response team and we have da Sullivan here with us and Liz why not we're going to bring them back in and da Sullivan I'd like you to explain what the community opportunity Network navigation exploration and connection team is also known as connect it's a very important program because it's a post opiate overdose um intervention where uh peer recovery coaches go out and see that person who has overdosed or their family members Andor and uh they provide resources to them they also let them know that there's per Recovery Services and also the treatment modalities that are available to them because people are always scrambling for a place to go or a people to see so they give all those resources in a packet so then they they put them in a better place so they can get treatment in a timely way and what about the Community Information resource packet you know you just touched on that most people in the community don't know much about um Naran so information about Naran about peer recovery about those resour es in the community that they otherwise would just skip all together so they've worked really hard on the task force to make sure that it's ready to go that people have that 800 number or that particular number to give a call for that uh treatment Recovery Services yeah and so a lot of progress has been made around Naran right it's now available for free um some towns like East Hampton they offer noock boxes and several municipalities and school buildings businesses as well also now being equipped with these um nasal um n loone doses that people can administer so Liz is access to Naran or no lockone helping to reduce these deaths oh most definitely it's been one of the most important things I think that has happened in in terms of providing something that is completely safe to administer to The Wider public especially to people who are at highest risk of witnessing an overdose um and so Ju Just quickly so nxone reverses overdoses for opioids um and it comes in a very simple spray that you just stick up the person's nose and and press and it uh over the over the past years um it's just gotten more widely available uh it's been amazing to see like the continued recognition of it um we at a tapestry we do a lot of different forms of nxone training so we work with people who use drugs and um people are at greatest risk of of overdosing and witnessing an overdose and we provide education around how to prevent and how to respond to an overdose and we also are able to give out Naran at no cost um an an anonymous basis so the person doesn't have to give us their name or anything like that um and in addition to that we um we try to get as creative as possible to uh get no oxone out into the community so through the help of the opioid task force and also the um a Federal grant called Mass heal we've been able to partner with the OTF to install noock boxes all around Green Fields um so a noock box is basically it's um it's it's an emergency box in that you can go up and just open it up and it's not locked and there will be no lock Zone in it that you can just take in case you witnessed an overdose so in Greenfield um especially with the the support of the city government uh specifically the mayor and her Department um we've been able to place them in public places where there's just been known to have um use where people are may use drugs and they've also been placed all over many different parts of Franklin County um in places like convenience stores and just other places where people can go very Anon anonymously and take it so very easily accessible now very uh yes getting getting better yeah yeah um and and they can get it Ines too yes so which is important that they could go into CVS without a prescription and and get it it's some may be covered by insurance but those that don't have it covered by insurance and don't have the money then go to tapestry right they have it readily available and Liz you touched on you know education and community outreach but da Sullivan you know how about in terms of the task force education and Outreach so important I mean with education we've been able to fund communities that care it's a youth organiz get to youth um about misuse and about protecting people making good decisions um and we want to keep funding the community um at the at the Grassroots whether it's schools or Community groups that they can get that information out to teenagers and young adults and opening this question up to both of you you know what are some ways that individuals businesses communities uh organizations in the community I should say can help you with your mission staff at tapestry um in the past couple years they they created these stickers that say like we carry noo Zone and we've done a lot of business Outreach uh where staff will just go into local businesses and they'll offer to provide Naran none at no cost and do a training with them and then we've asked for those stickers to go up into windows and I think that like the general public um being more supportive of initiatives like that is would be really helpful and I think that in general enal like the more um open we are about overdose and the more kind of willing um we are as a community to learn how to reverse an overdose and carry nxone the the better off will be in terms of preventing death I think businesses people in recovery they need jobs they need housing it's reducing this stigma because so many people are afraid of people finding out about that addiction but we can't help people unless they come forward and so reducing their St with so they can get treatment they can be and recover and they can lead a normal life so it's really important for the community do that and the community members that have joined our task force they've given our expertise they've given support they've been part of vigils they've done a lot of things to to make it uh so much easier uh for people to come forward and get the help they need and it's all about saving lives and lastly I just want to have you both touch on uh supervised consumption sites you know what we're seeing here in here in our area with that uh supervised consumption sites um have been around for 20 years they started in Canada they're in 13 countries and I'm in full support uh of these small uh places where people can go and use these drugs safely 99.9% of all the folks that die of opioid overdosis are alone and let's not have them alone but have a safe place for them to use that uh um that product and I just I just want to add that so at our sites at tapestry our syringe service programs were able to provide a wide range of services we provide people um a safer injection equipment as well as counseling access to nxone counseling and testing for HIV hepatitis C and SDI uh and supported referrals to treatment and other services that they need and everything else related to what they need in that moment but once they go leave us they go and um are often forced to inject their drugs alone and in places so I I mean some you can call say that we already have consumption sites but unfortunately they're people's bedrooms and their um you know restrooms and so to to allow for places like tapestry to allow for the person to safely use would be a great step toward reducing death yeah thank you both so much for your Insight really appreciate that Happ and we'll have some final remarks when we return you're watching 22 News in focus today we've been discussing the work being done for Substance Abuse Prevention intervention and treatment by the opioid task force of Franklin County and the north Cavin region we want to thank both of our guests for being here da Sullivan Liz why not we really appreciate you being on the program really important stuff thank you so much for that and if you missed any of our program you can watch it in full on our website wwlp.com from all of us here at 22 News have a great Sunday 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