MA state police report 185 fatal heroin overdoses in four months [View all]

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140225/NEWS/140227732/1994/NEWS



U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass, invited President Barack Obama's top adviser on drug control policy, R. Gil Kerlikowske, to Taunton on Monday to discuss strategies to reduce fatal heroin overdoses and improve the public health system and substance abuse treatment.

MA state police report 185 fatal heroin overdoses in four months

At least 185 people have died of heroin overdoses in Massachusetts during the last four months, state police said Tuesday.

The statistics released by state police do not include fatal overdoses in the state’s three largest cities — Boston, Springfield and Worcester — because local police handle their own death investigations in those cities and state police do not track those cases.

“Our experience and accumulate knowledge, however, indicates that these numbers absolutely represent an increased rate of fatal heroin overdoses,” state police spokesman David Procopio said.

The overdoses were largely concentrated in southeastern Massachusetts, western Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley and Middlesex County.