LAWMAKERS PUSHING FOR ANTI-DRUG LAWS IN FUTURE

Echoing Thursday's theme of broader engagement and cooperation in combating
a spreading drug problem, local legislators have filed several bills aimed
at drug prevention and faster and more accurate reporting of overdoses.
State Sen. Thomas McGee, and State Reps. Steven Walsh, Robert Fennell, and
Joyce Spiliotis, were among many Essex County legislators attending
yesterday's conference at Merrimack College. Responding to constituent
concerns over increased drug abuse, members of the local delegation sat
down with local officials and discussed several bills that are up for
consideration in this legislative session.

Walsh, who had two aides taking notes Thursday, said he will call a
separate fact finding hearing on the opiate epidemic, and has filed bills
calling for better Emergency Room reporting of overdoses, and tamper-proof
prescription pads for doctors.

"(If passed), any doctor prescribing OxyContin or other Schedule C drugs
would be writing on scripts that can't be altered in anyway between when a
patient receives them and takes them to the pharmacy," Walsh said. "There
are a number of things we can do. I think we need to change some laws and
work with the Department Of Public Health to figure out whose using, why,
and how to better prevent and regulate."

Reporting drug overdoses and fatalities appears to be a priority for the
coming session. Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey touched on the issue Thursday, and
Fennell and McGee have filed a bill similar to Walsh's, which would require
emergency rooms to file overdose reports with the DPH. Hospitals currently
have to report only gunshot and stab wounds.

"The DA and police aren't looking for this to make arrest. We just want
that data and hard number to find out where the problems are in a community
or area," Fennell said. "There are probably hundreds of overdoses happening
on the North Shore in a month, but we don't know about them because they
aren't reported. Some of those are going right back out onto the street and
back to the drugs that gave them the overdose."

The bill is the product of joint work with several community officials,
said McGee, a co-signer and chair of the Joint Criminal Justice Committee.
"I think that (cooperation) is important in itself. We've been working with
the chief of police in Lynn, with the schools, with Project COPE and
others, the health department in the city," McGee said. "We've all been
working together to try and find a broad approach."

That broad approach may be what decides if the community can make a dent in
the drug problem, said Lynn Police Chief John Suslak. "I think you've
never had so many people involved. We've been talking about this for years
now," he said. "It isn't an overnight phenomenon in Lynn, it's been in our
area for years and we've been trying to engage other folks and groups in
this. This can't just be a handful of people in law enforcement or it's
just not going to get done."