News

Arlington Police chief aims to make change in opioid crisis

ARLINGTON, Mass. — Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan is on a mission to end an opioid crisis affecting people both locally and nationally.

The chief started the Arlington Outreach Initiative, a national model for dealing with the opioid crisis.

Ryan said he recently met with a team of experts, including members from Johns Hopkins, to come up with new strategies for police to use in situations during the crisis.

The meeting came after more than 64,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States in 2016. There were 53 overdoses in Plymouth County since last Wednesday, and six of them were deadly.

The group came up with 10 standards of care to use.

"We believe our 10 standards of care will help communities overcome that stigma and begin to move the dial and drive down death in America," Ryan said.

The standards include education to overcome that stigma and using Narcan.

"“When somebody relapses on a substance, our society tends to treat that as a moral failing, rather than the illness that it is," Ryan said.

Two controversial points on the list include giving addicts a fentanyl detection kit, and exploring safe injection sites.

Boston 25 visited clinics in Canada, where Ryan said the data suggests they decrease overdose deaths.

"Saving a life is saving a life," Ryan said. "And that's a good thing."

>>RELATED: Mass. becomes first state to require non-opioid pain meds in ambulances

Ryan hopes people will allow science and not emotion to shape public policy, and says the opioid epidemic isn't going away unless it's addressed head on.

"You think America will ever be able to tackle this huge issue with opioids?" Ryan said. "Until we get beyond the stigma associated with substance abuse disorder, I don't think we will be."