Medical cannabis: ‘multi-million dollar’ industry across Md2

begin tonight in cambridge — where a string of overdoses in less than a week — prompted a press conference today. 47 abc’s julian sadur was there — and tells us why city leaders now say all hands need to be on deck to solve this problem. 044710 anytime that you have a situation like this where six overdoses in a week certainly constitutes a problem 044716 track law enforcement – the state’s attorney – and the county health department all coming together tuesday in cambrigde to address a problem that’s become all too familiar in the last few years – heroin. out of those six overdoses — one of them was fatal –and three others came within just a half an hour of each other. the suspected reason for the uptick… 043429 it leads me to worry that 043430 we have some heroin that’s being mixed with some especially bad stuff 043435 track police won’t know if the heroin was actually cut with something else — or what it was cut with -until lab results come back in a few weeks – however they suspect it was cut with a drug called fetanyl – a drug that they say is more potent than heroin and heightens the chance for overdose. dorchester county states attorney bill jones says with a recent increase in heroin in the county -the solution starts with the officials in the room. 043913 it requires everyone 3915 3923 for that reason i am launching an initiative that will bring together all of the parts of this problem to lay our cards on the table 043930 track the initiative will look at what tactics police are using to prevent drugs from coming in to the city and being sold – ensure prosecutors are putting away dealers — and suggesting suspended sentences with chances for treatment for addicts. it will also ask treatment providers what they’re doing to get addicts help. dorchester county addictions program director donal hall says that help must be taken to the addicts — because most of the time they won’t come to get it. 044152 what we have to do is we have to connect with those that are out there just suffering and get them to treatment 044157 track hall says his department has hired two more peer specialists to help with that outreach. they say they hope by addressing the problem now it will prevent tearing any more families apart. julian sadur – 47 abc 47 abc was also able to speak with mayor victoria jackson stanley on the phone — who says the problem needs to be nipped in the bud before it gets any worse. she asks the public to help by calling police anonymously when they see drug activity — and also encouraging those struggling with addiction to get help. staying on the topic of heroin – dorchester county states attorney bill jones says fentanyl is the biggest problem we have in terms of what heroin is being cut with. officials say what makes the drug so dangerous is that one use of it could kill you – depending on how much it is mixed in with the heroin. dealers have been known to cut heroin with fentanyl to make their product stronger – but officials have recently learned heroin may be coming into the country from mexico already mixed with fentanyl. the drug also poses a problem to law enforcement – because they must handle it using gloves. 043811 we have to worry about law enforcement officers and their seizures of fentanyl because it is transdermal 3816 it can go through the skin 3817 and the officers are at great risk of getting injured and they can actually die 3823 officials say that fentanyl is hard to track — but add that from lab results they know definitively that the drug is being mixed with heroin on the