METHADONE MILE ‘OUT OF CONTROL’
Clinic CEO: Uptick in violence tied to shift in drug use
Aggressive behavior is on the rise on Boston’s meanest streets, fueled by the increased use of fentanyl and meth and a concentration of drug users, an addiction clinic chief on the South End’s so-called “Methadone Mile” told the Herald.
“I think that it has gotten worse. And I would say that it’s getting more out of control,” Hope House Addiction Services CEO Allison Burns said Wednesday.
People are so tightly packed in the Methadone Mile, which includes the area of Massachusetts Avenue, Melnea Cass Boulevard and Southampton Street, due to the availability of both illegal drugs and addiction treatment services alike, Burns said. But the nature of drug abuse is shifting.
“Everybody’s used to the opioid crisis,” Burns said. “They’re not used to the methamphetamine, the cocaine, the bath salts … the K2 — fentanyl is in all of that stuff.
“I mean, it’s a completely different type of overdose,” Burns said.
After a violent attack on a corrections officer on nearby Atkinson Street last week, Boston police arrested at least 35 people on the Methadone Mile. Police Sgt. Detective John Boyle said there are directed patrols in the area.
Guy Glodis, the legislative agent for the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, said the injured officer is “doing better.”
“Our hope is that the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” said Glodis, adding, “If a person in uniform feels intimidated, then how does a normal person feel in that situation?”
Hope House resident Anthony Calhoun said, “There’s so much violence going on the kids don’t even hang out in the parks no more.”
Another resident who came to treatment from outside Boston added, “There’s drugs everywhere, just walking around they offer you drugs. … I was shocked.”
While acknowledging the rise in aggressive behavior, Burns insisted the area is only unsafe if “you go looking for things that you shouldn’t be.”
Hope House offers a wide range of free residential programs for men struggling with addiction and Burns said more long-term treatment options are key to cleaning up the South End.
She said she is working to create community partnerships to keep people off the streets and get them into recovery.
Burns said another issue is the lack of attention on women. “The sex work out there is absolutely out of control. … It’s getting overshadowed by the violence, the violence and the drugs, but no one’s looking at the females.”
Looming still are pot shop proposals targeting the Methadone Mile, with the prospect of outsiders coming in with cash and leaving with marijuana products, amid the treatment centers and a population of addicts.
“I don’t think everybody’s happy about that,” Burns said, though she added, “If they’re run correctly, then it will probably be OK.”