Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 1/27/2022
WEST SPRINGFIELD — To inform parents on how to keep their children safe from drugs within their own homes, the CARE Coalition hosted a virtual town hall meeting on Jan. 18.
The meeting consisted of questions, answers and personal stories from six expert panelists, and was moderated by local journalist Ray Hershel.
The panelists began by introducing themselves. Holly Perry, pediatric emergency room doctor at Baystate Health systems, said, “Every day in my work, I see families and kids who are either struggling with addiction, who come in following intentional overdose, or sometimes the young kids who come in following an exploratory ingestion.”
Mark Klee, a clinical pharmacist at Baystate Medical Center, shared that he works on the opposite side of Perry, more so with adults.
“One of the things I focus on is how we manage pain and opioids within the hospital,” said Klee. Also, “how to mitigate some of the harms from those.” As he has been a pharmacist for over 20 years, Klee said, “Medication safety and safe medication storage is something that is very important.”
For 2021, Klee said the CDC anticipates over 100,000 people in the United States alone have died from a drug overdose, with three-quarters of the deaths being from opioids.
Detective Capt. Jay Gearing said the topic of drug abuse is “near and dear to my heart,” not only as a longtime member of the West Springfield Police Department, but also as the father of a middle school and a high school student. Gearing said he is a 26-year veteran of the WSPD, serving the past 13 years in the detective bureau, where he now oversees criminal investigations, death investigations, as well as the narcotics unit. As opioids are at the forefront of his work, he said, “I see these issues on a weekly basis and I think it needs to be brought to everyone’s attention.”
Magda Colon, a youth health advocate from the Hampden County district attorney’s office, was introduced by Hershel as someone who is committed to promoting health and safety within the community. Colon said that a big question to be answered is: “When do we talk to our children about drugs?”
The final panelist, John Weiss, president and owner of Ormsby Insurance Agency in West Springfield, has a personal connection to this topic. He shared, “My nephew is a recovering heroin addict that started with drugs that were found in a medicine cabinet somewhere.” In addition, Weiss said he sees this issue as an employer, resulting in terminating or having to let go of employees.
“Do not stick your head in the sand. Please do not say, ‘It’s not me, it’s not my son or daughter, it’s not my niece or nephew’; that’s the biggest mistake you could make,” Weiss said. He said adults have to have tough conversations. “Please don’t deny it. Please accept that it might be a possibility, and that is the best place to start.”
In the emergency room, Perry said, doctors often see young kids who are “exploring things” or “finding something on the carpet … they pick it up and pop it in their mouths.”
Since marijuana became legal in Massachusetts in 2016, Perry said there are more edibles that look like candy or food. Some children don’t understand how strong the edibles are, fall ill and need to be hospitalized.
“In the past two years, we’ve admitted something like 25 kids to the intensive care unit after inadvertently getting THC, presumably edibles,” Perry said.
She went on to say that most of the time, the parents are unaware that their child got into drugs in the first place.
Throughout the pandemic, Perry has noticed a struggle in teenagers with mental health issues such as anxiety, isolation and depression. To cope, many kids have turned to drugs. Perry said they have seen some who are “acutely psychotic after consuming too much THC,” but more of kids who are taking counterfeit pills.
“I’ve had a few girls say they took Percocets, but when we do the toxicology screen, it’s cocaine and fentanyl,” said Perry. “We are seeing a lot of fentanyl in Springfield right now.”
“The fentanyl in our community is so scary,” Perry continued. She explained that it’s “more potent than heroin.”
She advised people to always take their medicine from the labeled bottle, rather than asking a friend for a loose pill.
Locking up your medications
Through studies that have been done on post-surgical patients being prescribed opioids, Klee said “only about one-quarter of people had their medications in a secured, locked location. The other 75 percent were either on the counter, stored in an unlocked medicine cabinet where anybody who would be accessing the restroom, bathroom or wherever they were — would have access to those.”
Klee suggested purchasing of a lockbox for medication, available for $20 at local pharmacies. Although such boxes are not impenetrable, Klee said, “If someone has tried to access the medications, there’s clear evidence,” such as disruption of the hinges. He added that it’s critical for patients to keep track of how many pills they have, along with removing them from the house when no longer needed.
Weiss shared that although his nephew has been able to get help, still “it’s a struggle.” He continued, “My nephew came from an upper-middle-class family, college graduate, owned a home, very successful, but it’s a disease that even with all the help he got, it’s still an everyday struggle.”
Although parents might not think their children could become drug users, Weiss said, “You don’t know every one of your son or daughter’s friends.” When they come to your house, these friends have access to the bathroom and medicine cabinets, he noted. The same even goes for adult friends, said Weiss.
“It all comes back to protecting those narcotics while they’re in your home, or getting rid of them when you don’t need them any longer,” he said.
Klee said a survey found that about 80 percent of drug users began by using prescription drugs obtained from family, friends and medicine cabinets.
Hershel said the West Springfield CARE Coalition will sponsor a social media challenge to submit includes photos of medicine cabinets before and after locking them up. Prizes will be awarded through a drawing.
Proper medication disposal
To dispose of medications properly, Klee said there are a variety of good resources. For instance, the Food and Drug Administration maintains a list of medications that are safe to flush down the toilet.
“Universally, we don’t recommend that people flush their medications down the toilet, because some of those can get into our water supply,” said Klee.
Twice a year, typically once in the fall and spring, the Drug Enforcement Agency sponsors a national drug take-back day when people can bring their unused medications to police stations to be disposed of properly. Klee added that more recently, in Massachusetts, the Department of Public Health website lists the locations of permanent kiosks for medication returns. One nearby kiosk is at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield; a full list can be found at www.mass.gov/orgs/department-of-public-health.
Gearing said the WSPD also has kiosk accessible 24 hours a day in its lobby on Central Street in West Springfield.
“You don’t have to interact with anyone, you don’t have to tell anyone what you’re doing, you just come in, use the kiosk and you can walk out,” he said.
“It’s a very simple and private process.”
When to talk to your children
Perry recommended that parents talk to their kids while they’re young: “Don’t wait until they’re 14 or 15, and already think they know better than you and they maybe have a substance abuse problem. Start talking to them when they’re 9 or 10 and get the conversation going.”
Colon echoed Perry’s statement and said, “The earlier the better.” She believes these conversations should be “normalized” and “honest,” and that parents should depend less on punishment, as addiction is a disease that people struggle with. One thing Colon has always said to the children she works with is: “A simple decision that you make today can change your future forever. To make those decisions responsibly and continue to make those decisions responsibly would broaden up your future forever.”
Gearing said he tells his children that “the hardest thing that they’re going to do, [I believe], is say no to their friends.” As they grow older, Gearing said it will likely be a friend or someone they know who will pass them something to try, but he tries to instill the importance of saying no.
Drugs within schools
Audience member Heather Warner asked Perry if she has seen cases in the ER as a result of nicotine vaping cartridges. Perry said they have been fortunate enough not to see any at Baystate, although this is an issue that has been seen elsewhere.
Gearing said the West Springfield schools have school resource officers who do confiscate children’s vaping — electronic cigarette — equipment from time to time. He added that the resource officers are all equipped with testing kits, allowing for products to be tested, if needed, to see if it contains an illegal substance.
At the middle school and high school, there is a school resource officer assigned to each building. Gearing said they all lead an educational segment with students, even though it may be only a few weeks out of the year.
Where to look for help
Parents looking for help have many options, Colon said. She highlighted learn2cope.org, aimed specifically at families with a loved one suffering from substance use disorder. Colon added that this is a safe, confidential space, and is made up of parents or family members who have experienced similar scenarios. She also mentioned alliesinrecovery.net.
“Allies in Recovery has the set of tools for parents and caregivers to have conversations with your loved one,” she said. When trying to talk with someone who has a mental health or substance use disorder, conversation can be difficult, but this website assists, said Colon.
Klee referenced the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, at www.samhsa.gov, which also has a number of resources for treatment, and discussion starters.
Aside from these websites, Klee said there are a variety of community coalitions that provide resources and steer people in the right direction. Weiss added on to this point, stating that there are CARE Coalitions all over the country, all with the goal of “reducing drug abuse, alcohol abuse, vaping abuse, etc.” He went on to say, “Don’t be afraid to ask friends.”
Colon added that many of the organizations that provide mental health resources also provide substance abuse resources. She said the pandemic has prompted the growth of telehealth, making it easier or more accessible for some patients to reach providers.
Gearing mentioned the Section 35 law in Massachusetts, which is “when a qualified person petitions the court for help and gets court-ordered help for someone who’s suffering with substance use.” The court orders treatment as needed, and although it’s typically a last resort, Gearing said it can be useful.
The West Springfield CARE Coalition works in prevention and has an abundance of resources posted on its website. To learn more, visit www.townofwestspringfield.org/residents/care-coalition-585.
For additional information, contact Ananda Lennox, coalition coordinator at alennox@wsps.org.