Main South Group: “Treat Every Overdose as a Potential Homicide”

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

GoLocalWorcester News Team

While much of the city of Worcester focuses on how to combat the heroin epidemic by educating citizens and trying to prevent overdoses from happening, the Main South Alliance for Public Safety wants to see the city pay more attention to the drug dealers themselves.

Filing a petition for this evening’s (Tuesday October 28th) city council meeting, Main South Alliance for Public Safety Chair Bill Breault is requesting that the city take a more aggressive approach to fighting the unlawful distribution of Class A Substances, mainly heroin.

“We would like to see police and prosecutors turn to more aggressive tactics against the drug seller to seek murder charges against suspected dealers and provide for longer prison sentences,” says Breault. “We would treat every overdose scene like a crime scene. We would like to treat every overdose as a potential homicide.”

The Main South Alliance for Public Safety wants to see the Worcester City Council, City Manager, City Solicitor, Chief of Police and District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. come together to find a solution to better combat the heroin epidemic in Worcester. While many have pointed to education and prevention efforts as areas of focus, Breault would like to see an increased effort toward enforcement so that the Main South community and the rest of Worcester can be restored in a positive way.

“If we are serious about bringing about significant, positive changes so as to restore the Main South area to a decent level of civilization, we need to embark to a multifaceted, integrated approach to the task of crime prevention,” said Breault. “Finally, we wish to emphasize once again that this intolerable situation of criminal activity in our neighborhood is partially the result of an erosion of societal standards.”

Heroin overdoses have been increasing throughout New England but have impacted Worcester more than many other cities. According to Derek Brindisi, Director of Public Health for Worcester, the city is on pace for as many as 450 non-fatal overdoses in 2014, a sharp increase over the 188 in 2008.