Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Live reporting: Police Chief on the drug problem


H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS

» Police Chief Stephan Semerjian
introduced his three technical specialists, detectives 
(photo to be added)

there are any number of us who know someone with some addiction problem
heroin is a cheaper option to get the hit, high they are looking for

we have a syringe disposal
we have a drug take back

we focus our efforts on abusers, no one is happy in that condition

I am appreciative of the help we can get from the Legislation and the local District Attorney

we are not immune, our problem is not any more severe than any community around us

we have a hold different class of individuals today
kids, a different demographic

Franklin PD takes a very agressive posture on this
two others specifically do drug work, building cases, make sure it will pass the judicial test


District Attorney, Michael W. Morrissey
numbers are misleading and but going up everyday
largest killer of young people
the heroin today is twice as strong as it used to be
Oxycontin is nothing but heroin in pill form
5% of the population use 90% of the painkillers

our meeting is changing frequently, used to be quarterly, now it is monthly

we arrested 5 people last week, a collaborative effort
we do a lot of arrests, but we are not going to get out of this with arrests
we are after the bigger fish, we need to get the little folks into rehab

we don't want people dumping it down the toilet
we take it back and get rid of it

alcohol or substance abuse, everyone here is touched by it in some way

our problem is the medical community
120 pharmacies; prescription monitoring program
my office is referring over 30 doctors to board of medicine for investigation on their practices; I don't know the outcome but I'll keep referring them

doing a lot of things on a lot of fronts

there were community coalition to meet regularly
how can we get treatment out to people
and can help with some funds (taken from the drug dealers)

every community in Norfolk County has been trained
over 400 people have been saved in Quincy with this training


Rep Jeff Roy
learned early on in his days that the opiate problem was going to be a big problem; thanks to DA Morrissey for his guidance
thanks for the commitment on this issue



Denis, representing Sen Karen Spilka
listing of items currently in the budget to provide programs to fight the drug problem

she is committed to work with the local leaders to address this issue

Kelly - thanks for your meeting with us last week to go over this and help prepare. Even with my background, I was still shocked last week at the epidemic we have. The drug take back box did 2400 pounds in our community last year. The average user is 19-42 years old. It really covers all age groups. What do I do to help this anti-drug cause? the people want to partner with us.

Semerjian - we would like everyone to report, we have to leverage this information. we need everybody's information. We have a tip line. We have an email address on the website. We have anonymous ways to report. Unfortunately, no one wants to be a tattle tale. People can get hurt. It is a very complicated situation.

Morrissey - you can call State police, or any body, they all work together. There is a whole range of services to go to the house with. Getting education out there. We are at the high school. Maybe we need to get to the middle schools. You may start to see "after a long struggle with opiate abuse", or maybe via the donation 'in memory of' see who it goes to.

Semerjian - we are adding things to our website. The audio visual students at the High School will do some public service announcements for us

Padula - no longer an issue to have under an ounce of marijuana and it becomes a gateway drug. You have no idea how lucky we are to have all the good people working the issue for us. 

Roy - There are bills currently to legalize marijuana. You ask what can you do? educate yourself on that issue. If we don't do something, it might be a ballot question in Nov of 2016.

Dellorco - thanks for taking my calls, I have had to call to put some folks away. The people that come to me, coaching kids, the parents have nowhere to turn. We need to start to do something with the coalition to give some people to turn. You guys are doing the best you can. "this is war I dont think I can win". But we as a community we have to do something.

Bissanti - thanks to the Chief and Police Dept. This isn't a knee jerk reaction to recent headlines. This has been discussed before. We have utmost confidence in the police. The big fish arent what you see in the movies. It is a bigger problem than we think.

We have the arest factor, education is the number one priority. The coalition is a huge step to get the word out to the families, to get them to come forward and get them the help.


treat it on a tree prong level, education (1) check the website
(2) support groups, hotlines, treatment centers, who do they go
involuntary commitment, involve the schools, look at how much SADD has done over the years
no such thing as a casual heroine user
(3) enforcement component, utilize Ryan Jette and others who can see kids in different areas. We have to follow up after the arest to get treatment and not just leave them along after the arrest

meeting to help families meet so that the families who have addictions can have a support group, did not know how to get help; need a support group for parents and family members to get help

Vallee - education is the one way to stop this

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