Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. (Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s Administration released a plan Friday that is designed to address public health and safety in the area known as the Methadone Mile.
According to Walsh, the plan is “aimed at addressing the urgent public health crisis in Newmarket Square and surrounding areas, where a high number of individuals who have substance use disorder seek health care and shelter.”
The city’s chief of Health and Human Services, Marty Martinez, said the Walsh Administration—with some help from a state grant—is getting more public health workers and police in the area.
“What you’re seeing is more boots on the ground, more engagement, and getting more folks connected to treatment and care,” Martinez said. “Most of that treatment and care is not in this neighborhood.”
According to Martinez, there are no plans for another clean sweep.
The plan sets out to connect addicts with “resources and a pathway to recovery,” reduce crime to ensure public safety, clean the streets—getting rid of items like “discarded syringes” and “drug paraphernalia”—and improve communication “of services and ongoing assessment of efforts.”
“What we have on our hands is an opioid epidemic of historic proportions that is taking hold of too many lives, and tearing apart families in every city and town in our nation,” Mayor Walsh said in a statement. “As a society, we will never turn our backs on people who are at the most vulnerable time in their life.”
Walsh also added that while there “is not one perfect solution to dealing with” the opioid crisis, the city is “committed to doing everything” they can.
“Our primary focus will always be on the safety and wellbeing of all people in the City of Boston, and I’m asking for us all to work together hand in hand as a community to confront this national crisis,” Walsh said.
WBZ NewsRadio's Carl Stevens (@carlwbz) reports
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