State crackdowns on opiate abuse

AGAWAM, Mass. (WWLP) - A new report by a legislative panel recommends how the state can crackdown on heroin and Oxycontin abuse after a surge in deaths related to the drugs.

The recommendations include making it mandatory for middle and high schools to have a drug counselor on staff and requiring hospitals to inform parents if a minor overdoses.

Another suggestion is to offer jail diversion programs to give low-level offenders the option of treatment over jail time.

More than 3,200 hundred people died in Massachusetts between 2002 and 2007 from opiate related overdoses.

The report is giving new hope to families struggling with the addiction.

Derek Pelley of Agawam was just 18 years old when he overdosed and died from heroin. Now his sister Erica is left wishing her three sons got to know their uncle.

“We knew he was on heroin and we tried everything. We got him into rehab in Providence for seven days and he got out. We tried tough love. Nothing really worked,” she said.