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— News via Quincy Quarry News – News, Opinion and Commentary
The needles and the damage done
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While statewide fatal drug overdoses were down in 2023, the last full year of such data, by 10% from 2022’s record-setting levels, the tragic reality is 2023 overdose deaths were still among the highest on record.
Even worse were the data for Quincy.
Overdose deaths in Quincy were up in 2023 by 16% from 2022’s overdose fatalities and so setting a new local record of 51 drug overdose deaths.
Without going all wonky on the implications of the underlying statistics, the number of drug fatalities in Quincy is statistically significant as regards its 25% negative delta from the statewide decline in overdose deaths in 2023.
https://x.com/dick_nixon/status/1307104380001411073
Bagging and tagging
Image via the Reading Eagle
Seriously significant on top of also tragically so.
Further significant, overdose death rates is other South Shore communities for the most part stayed steady to declined a bit.
At the same time, Weymouth was a stand out with a 25% decline in overdose deaths from 24 in 2024 to only 18 in 2022. While smaller numbers do pose some noise to its numbers as regards statistical significance, it is still noteworthy to note that Weymouth’s number of overdoes death rates in 2023 were down by 45% from its 2016 overdose death record.
“We arrived just in time!”
Image via MedPage Today
Additionally, on a overdose per 10,000 basis, Weymouth’s overdose death rate is more than a third lower then Quincy’s overdoes death rate.
Conversely troubling, so far no word out of Quincy’s City Hall about Quincy’s troubling overdose fatalities numbers and statistics.
In fact, Mayor Koch’s much ballyhooed appointee as the City of Quincy’s soon to be paid $100,000 a year Substance Abuse Coordinator has been maintaining a low profile.
(“Humina, humina …”)
A Boston Globe image
A very low profile even as overdose fatalities in Quincy have been setting new records for overdose deaths in recent years.
So what for the fact that Quincy’s drug overdose death rate per 10,000 residents is 62% higher than the statewide rate per the same standard measurement metric.
Quincy, always the overachiever, but not in the way anyone wants. While the rest of Massachusetts is making strides in reducing overdose deaths, Quincy decides to buck the trend and go for the gold in the worst possible way. It’s like they saw progress and said, “Nah, we’ll pass.” Maybe next time the city can aim to be a leader in something positive—like actually addressing the opioid crisis effectively. But hey, at least they’re consistent in being out of step with the rest of the state. Way to set an example, Quincy!
But, but, acknowledging that Quincy has an opiate problem — in fact, a seriously ugly problem — would ruin Tommy’s myth of a new Quincy.