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Report Looks At Opioid Crisis In Rural Western Massachusetts

Progress on combating the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts has been uneven. While the rate of drug overdose deaths decreased statewide from 2017-2018, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, there was a 73 percent increase in the four western counties.

The Massachusetts Health Policy Forum recently released a new report examining the impact of the opioid crisis in small and rural communities in western Massachusetts.

The report was developed by a team led by Constance Horgan, director of the Institute for Behavioral Health at Brandeis University.

She spoke with WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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