Middlesex County DA Says Education and Early Prevention Could Curb Opiate Epidemic

By BARRY THOMPSON (Patch Staff)

On Friday, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan recapped her agency’s efforts to combat the community’s prescription painkiller and heroin epidemic in front of the Governor’s Opioid Task Force.

As of mid-April, more than 65 people had died from opiate overdoses in Middlesex County since the start of 2015. Meaning, more fatal overdoses occurred in Middlesex County during the first three and a half months of 2015 than in the entire 12 months of 2012 combined.

Before the task force, Ryan emphasized the need for preventive efforts to keep the next generation of youths from getting hooked, a focus on early intervention for potential long-term addicts, and cultivating public/private partnerships for such preventive efforts and treatment.

“As the chief law enforcement officer of Middlesex County I have seen first-hand the devastating impact of the opiate crisis,” she said, according to astatement to the media.

“Each day, children are directly impacted by this epidemic, many of whom have witnessed a parent, sibling, or loved one overdose on opiates. We must work to prevent the cyclical effects of self-medication as a coping mechanism for children who have witnessed the death, or near death, of a loved one.”

She also spoke of efforts on her part of her office to help educate young women about the circumstances that could lead to babies born with substance addictions, and the creation of an emergency intervention network for such situations.