Seeking Opioid Answers

Seeking Opioid Answers DA comes to film showing to push for a solution

+ click to enlarge News staff photo by DONEEN DURLING Film director Bess O’Brien and Worcester County District Attorney Josephy D. Early Jr. speak after a showing of Ms. O’Brien’s drug addiction movie, “The Hungry Heart,” at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School last night. Doneen Durling News Correspondent FITCHBURG  In an effort to put a face on opiate addiction in Worcester County, Montachusett Regional Technical School and the Fitchburg Police Department hosted the movie “The Hungry Heart” at the Monty Tech auditorium Wednesday evening. District Attorney Joseph D. Early and film Director Bess O’Brien were in attendance, and reached out to discuss the problems facing addicts and their quest for recovery. Ms. O’Brien said the film was made in 2012 in St. Albans, Vermont, a small rural community just above Burlington. It tells the true story of one doctor’s attempt to connect with addicts in the town, and showed the battles each young person waged from the first time they found what eventually became their own personal devil. District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. spoke after the film and said there have been 96 deaths attributed to opiates since the beginning of the year in Worcester County. He said his mantra has been to show compassion and stay within the law. He said state Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, D-Leominster, has done a lot as a member of the opiate task force in terms of education. He said people are not turned away if they have diabetes or cancer. He likened addiction to a disease, and said people should not be turned away with addiction. “There aren’t enough beds. We need more beds,” he said. Mr. Early said they are going to start an opiate overdose task force. He said they would let doctors know when there has been an overdose and when something has been overprescribed. The task force has reported over 30 doctors so far to the medical board. Mr. Early said the United States has 5 percent of the world’s population and uses 95 percent of the world’s opiates. Ms. O’Brien has directed films on domestic violence, foster care and body image to name a few. She was invited to consider doing a film on addiction when Dr. Fred Holmes, a pediatrician in St. Albans, contacted her. Dr. Holmes began on the path to treating young addicts in his community when a young man who had been his patient since he was a baby came to him to ask for treatment of his opiate addiction. The film premiered in 2013, and Ms. O’Brien took it to 37 towns across the state of Vermont, giving presentations with the people in the movie to raise awareness in the state surrounding the opiate addiction issue. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin saw the documentary and was so moved by the stories and courage of the people in the movie, he decided to focus his State of the State Address on 2014 on opiate addiction. “This was a big deal because there has been no governor in the entire history of the United States that has focused their State of the State Address on one issue ever,” said Ms. O’Brien. “Certainly no governor has focused that much attention on addiction.” Ms. O’Brien said that after the governor’s address, media from the world descended on the small state of Vermont. “How in the world could the beautiful state of Vermont, the Green Mountain State of Ben and Jerry’s, have an opiate addiction problem? That’s impossible. We do have an opiate addiction, you guys have an opiate addiction, and guess what? Pretty much the entire country does,” said Ms. O’Brien. Ms. O’Brien gave updates on the patients of Dr. Holmes. She said 40 percent of the young people treated by the doctor are doing well. The other 60 percent had relapsed or the doctor lost track of them. “We know that recovery is a long road and there are a lot of relapses. The lucky ones get to a place that they can finally recover.” Ms. O’Brien said that prescription drugs are legal technically. They are given out by doctors to people who are dealing with pain. They are not going to go away. However, they are way overprescribed. She said she has shown the film at medical schools, hospitals and to health care providers. “I can tell you doctors need to be educated in this area. Because of the overprescribing, they have created a lot of addicts who are now showing up at their offices and the emergency room and demanding these drugs. It has become difficult for doctors now to deal with that,” said Ms. O’Brien. Ms. O’Brien said doctors have been pushed to use pills for pain, and were told they were a new way of treating people with pain. “People in the movie were getting 50 to 70 Percocets at a time. Crazy Town! That has got to stop,” said Ms. O’Brien. Ms. O’Brien invited the audience to spread the word about “The Hungry Heart.” She said those who wish to order a movie to use in a classroom would find the movie and associated materials at http://thehungryheartmovie.org.