Minutes- October 2017

I.  Welcome – District Attorney Tim Cruz

• Number of violent crimes are down all around
• OUI-Drugs/Drugged Driving is a real public safety issue.
• Our office has seen several cases of Motor Vehicle Homicide where the driver has been under the influence of controlled substances at the time of the crash.
• Just recently there was a fatal crash where a Pembroke woman was driving to Brockton to pick up drugs and ended up rear ending a woman whose car was pushed into an oncoming dump truck
• People are going into different communities, buying drugs, taking the drugs right then, and then getting back on the road impaired.
• Field sobriety tests aren’t applicable for marijuana and other drugs. We may have virtually no evidence in these cases. The cases we do win is due to law enforcement and the medical field

II.  Sheriff Joe McDonald

• Articles are saying that the number of scripts for opioids is going down which is a result of the legislation that Gov. Baker signed in.
• The Sheriff of Franklin County is allowing pre-trial inmates with an opioid addiction to use suboxone as a method to fight addiction. We will be watching this experiment closely and gathering data.
• Dr. John Kelly, MGH is conducting a study, which we are also watching closely. There is still disagreement, even among providers about what constitutes appropriate treatment for which patients. A focus of his study is on programs for Section 35’s.
• We are working quietly on a solution to the Section 35’s (MASAC) in the Myles Standish State Forest. It is a battle of ideology because a prison is not an appropriate place for Section 35’s. We have resources that aren’t being utilized because they are in closed correctional facilities.
• Joanne Peterson- Parents/families want kids to be in a secure place when they are sectioned.
• Chief Scott Allen- Sectioning a loved one is usually a last resort but it keeps them alive. Outside public believe that police are forcing families to section which isn’t true.
• DOC runs the forestry camp and they are paying more per week in overtime for officers than they did when MASAC was housed in PCCF.
• Dr. Muse- Police are getting to the starting gate and DPH doesn’t want that because they would be responsible for the rest of the problem.

III.  Subcommittee Reports

A. Education

• Laura Buckley- Quincy College
  • Exciting things are happening at Quincy College. We will be having a Substance Abuse Summit again, last year students were sharing personal stories.
    • The age range is 18-28 year olds.
  • Quincy College has had 3rd consecutive year of stocking Narcan in the AED boxes. The Narcan has expired, but we are proud to say we haven’t had to use it.
• Mary Waldron- Bridgewater State University
  • We haven’t had a formal education committee but we plan to get it up, running, and more engaged.
  • Connect Partnership Meeting has held a number of training sessions. Held an event at UMass Dartmouth where the students received dialogue and an abundance of information.
  • We plan to have a resource table at the Bridgewater State University homecoming on Narcan training, etc.

B. Legislative

• Representative. Randy Hunt
  • Vivitrol Programs- we are talking to a court administrator to spark interest
  • Gov. Baker 2.0 Bill – Idea is to put people into treatment as soon as possible. The bill is filed to change the law where someone selling a dangerous chemical, such as fentanyl, could be prosecuted at a higher level and raise the penalty to manslaughter. We want to keep minimum mandatory sentences on traffickers.
• Lance from Senator deMacedo’s office
  • Our office has worked with the Department of Mental Health on the Cape. A police officer and a mental health representative will go to a home of a recent overdose to check in as well as offer support and resources for the individual and/or family. This has built a better relationship with the Department of Mental Health and the public.- similar to our Project Outreach

C. DATA 

• Sean Verano- Kelly Research Associates
  • The database includes information about fatal and nonfatal overdoses around Plymouth County. There is a focus on the number of overdoses and follow ups which should occur 48-72 hours after an overdose occurs.
  • 774 incidents have occurred in the Northern towns and 455 incidents have occurred in the Southern towns.
  • On average, there are about 118 nonfatal overdoses.
  • Our concerns stem from nonfatal overdoses decreasing while fatal overdoses are increasing and we do not know why this spike is occurring.
  • We have a cross jurisdiction problem – people are getting drugs from other towns and overdosing there. We have the database set up so police can enter data and notify other towns.
• FBI- Brian Stoye- Staff Operations Specialist
  • Nationally we have seen a mix of fentanyl with other drugs such as cocaine, mainly in the 20-29 age groups.
    o State testing doesn’t have resources yet to test these mixes. Blood tests could also come back as a false negative.

D. Grants Update

•  Pat Nevins- Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office
  • We are the recipient of the Project Safe Neighborhood grant.
  • Brockton street gangs have changed the drug market including changing from Class B to Class A drugs. Class A incidents have increased from 2010-2014, firearms discharges also increased.
  • Opioids are what consumers want which have increased the competitiveness in gangs, hence the increase in firearm discharges.
  • Childhood Trauma Initiative Conference is on 11/8/17 at Hotel 1620 in Plymouth. Focuses on domestic violence type of work- more adverse a childhood experience the more likely that child is to engage in risky behaviors. Chiefs are tracking if a child is present during an overdose in the database.

E. Public Safety

• Chief Mike Botieri- Plymouth
  • There are 27 law enforcement agencies signed on
  • PCO Hope is a private entity now, Chief Botieri and Chief Allen have stepped down from PCO Hope Board.
  • The Chiefs have created a 12 chief advisory board, which is a new subcommittee of the Public Safety subcommittee to serve as advisors to PCO Hope. There is no funding for this group, everyone has signed on from their own dime.
  • PAARI has given us a grant for 5 employees through AmeriCorps and 4 part time Recovery Coaches which is great but it’s not sustainable.
  • DPH is our stumbling block. EOPS is looking to fund outside of DPH.
• Chief Scott Allen- East Bridgewater
  • Dr. Carroll from CDC came to our East Bridgewater meeting which is a great positive because we need a public health partner. The CDC is looking for a program to fund in Massachusetts and that’s us.
  • Hospital Partnerships are huge and we have 4/5 partnerships which are local hospitals.
  • National Summit for PAARI is coming up and the PCO Model is the 3rd model they are looking to promote.

F. Medical

• Dr. Dan Muse- Signature Health Care would like to send the white paper over to Peter Holden for his review. Karen Barry offered to reach out to Peter Holden to see if he would be willing to review and offer his thoughts.
• Pat Nevins- showed the promotional plan that the BAOC has come up for to promote sections of the white paper.
• DA Cruz mentioned that the white page is attached to the website.

G. Community Coalitions

• Joanne Peterson, Learn to Cope
  • Recently opened the 27th chapter on Martha’s Vineyard.
  • We do offer fentanyl tests at our chapters.
  • We are hearing about multiple prescriptions in homes which is legal so DCF’s hands are tied when trying to intervene. They can’t do anything until something bad is happening.

H. Faith Based Coalitions

• Dr. Jehle (read by DA Cruz in absence)
  • Teen Challenge is expanding in Brockton. The new 46 bed addition was completed in June.
  • Bloom for young girls (Teen Challenge home in Wareham) continues to do well under the direction of Tor Ferrari.
  • Zion Lutheran Church (North Plymouth), New Hope Chapel (Plymouth center) and New Testament Church (South Plymouth) continue to be actively involved in the community in both prevention and information. Zion Lutheran has been helping PYDC with activities that help preventive work and New Testament Church has been gathering volunteers and individuals to serve in various capacities.

I. Website Demonstration

• Barbara Faherty- Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office
  • Website should be going live sometime next week.
  • Can navigate the site through the sections at the top of the page, through there you can find the subcommittee pages. The chairs of the subcommittee can tailor their page however they would like. All content should be forwarded to me.
  • There is an events section which highlights current events and past events. This will create a history of drop in centers, conferences etc, around the county.
  • Community Coalitions will have the option of submitting an event. That will generate an email that will come directly to me, and I will put them in the community calendar.
  • The DA has secured a large host site, which means we can expand the website, and tailor each section however we would like.

IV.  Adjournment