Massachusetts is “in the midst of a serious and dangerous epidemic” of soaring heroin and opiate use, while support for treatment programs remains insufficient, a state commission said in a report Thursday.
The OxyContin and Heroin Commission held hearings across the state, including one in Fall River in May, to hear testimony on the toll that opiate addiction has made on communities. Fall River drug treatment representatives and public officials said the prevalence of addiction and lack of treatment options is startling.
“Fall River is the heart of the epidemic,” said Nancy Paull, the chief executive officer of Stanley Street Treatment and Resources, which has treatment programs for heroin and opiate addiction.
About three-fourths of addiction admissions at SSTAR are for heroin or other opiates, Paull said Thursday. About 350 are in SSTAR’s methodone program and about 200 in its suboxone program, but only a lack of funding is keeping those numbers from [...]

Original post by Grant Welker