The opioid epidemic that has consumed our country does not appear to be improving any time soon. The issues resulting from this epidemic are prevalent everywhere, including in Boston, most notably throughout the now infamous ‘Methadone Mile.’
Methadone Mile is an area near Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard in the South End near Boston University’s medical campus. Several homeless shelters and drug addiction clinics can be found along this stretch of land, giving it its foreboding name.
The opioid epidemic continues to grow as an issue for the City of Boston as more and more people fall victim to overdose; from 2012 to 2017, drug deaths due to synthetic opioid use rose by 2,461 percent in Boston alone. As a result, residents have been pushing for more immediate solutions to take on the Methadone Mile.
This push for action led to the Boston Police Department embarking on “Operation Clean Sweep” which resulted in the police arresting 34 people in the area for a multitude of charges and relocating many of the homeless people that tend to gather there. These raids resulted in little more than scattering people into surrounding neighborhoods, but they are likely to come back for the drug treatment and shelter services concentrated in the area.
Many residents of Boston considered this attempt as just another Band-Aid to slap on the gun wound of the opioid crisis. It is clear the Commonwealth needs to take more time and spend more money if it wants to figure out the best way to support its residents in need.
Addicts do not deserve to be ostracized and punished like dangerous criminals.
Many of these people were prescribed very strong pain medication by doctors they trusted and ended up becoming hooked after just a few days. This can lead to a person using much cheaper opioids like heroin to keep up with their addiction.
The most important thing to remember about these people, though, is that they are humans that deserve to be treated as such.
When given a better chance to overcome their addiction, users can turn their lives around before it ends in tragedy. The City of Boston needs to invest more in treatment centers all over the city, not just near the Methadone Mile.
If there are more clinics and opportunities for users to get clean, fewer people will congregate in the one area — Methadone Mile — where the current clinics are located.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced a plan over a year ago to try and clean up Methadone Mile by spreading more treatment centers across the city and increasing the presence of social workers, police and public works teams in the area.
But it is important that the presence of police is not the only thing they increase. That will only serve to aggravate the tensions already present between the homeless and the police.
For some, this is literally a matter of life and death. The opioid crisis needs to be tackled head-on — we can no longer ignore these people as if they are not our problem.
We learned from the “War on Drugs” that treating addicts like criminals and putting them in jail was counterproductive and we should have known that is was a waste of resources to arrest many on the Methadone Mile and relocate others.
No one on the streets of Methadone Mile wanted to be a homeless drug addict wondering if they will make it until tomorrow. Those who want to arrest or move them are lacking compassion for those left behind by society in the face of a national health epidemic.
We need to start viewing these people whom are equal parts of our community and as humans who have fallen victim to the terrible disease of addiction.
Meredith, I appreciate this opinion article. I work at Boston Medical Center and walk down Mass Ave daily. It’s been a very frustrating summer living and working in the area. Tensions are high. The city needs to do more. You are correct on all of these points.
One huge issue that perpetuates the stigma of addiction is language. Using terms like addicts, drug addiction clinic, and homeless drug addicts only furthers the divide. In addiction medicine we prefer terms like people who use drugs, patients with substance use disorders, and those experiencing homelessness. The methadone clinics in the area are recovery centers. Compassion and treatment is the solution to the opioid epidemic. Until we recognize those that suffer as equally human and deserving of care, our efforts to make Boston a better place to live for everyone will fall short.
Marco Tori if only society as a whole could view it as you and your colleagues do, we may one day have a standing chance in this fight.