OD deaths continue… epidemic rages on…
Top photo: One of today’s fatal overdoses… This is what it looks like… it’s either recovery, prison, or death.
HYANNIS – At about 5:15am, Barnstable Police and Hyannis Rescue responded to an overdose at a residence on the east side of town.
A 36-year-old male was already dead and first reponders quickly declared the scene a police matter.
Detectives from Barnstable and the state police arrived to investigate. Photographs were taken, individuals inside the residence questioned…
Sources say it appears to have been a typical overdose… and that the victim appeared to have been deceased for hours.
In other news:
WEST YARMOUTH – Before noon, police and rescue rushed to what turned out to be another fatal overdose inside a house in the middle of a family neighborhood.
Yarmouth and state police were in the process of investigating and notifying family members at the time of this report.
HN NOTE: From all recent observations, the ongoing deadly drug epidemic is not getting any better. It actually seems to be getting worse…
News outlets across the state are opting to not report on the disturbing number of fatal overdoses caused by heroin and other illicit drugs.
HN believes not reporting on the stark realities of the ongoing epidemic is a mistake.
While many in the news will report on the tragic details surrounding a young person driving drunk on alcohol and subsequently dying in a car crash, the same reporters tend to shy away from deaths caused by other dangerous drugs.
What’s the difference?
A life lost to heroin is certainly no less important than a life lost to alcohol.
HN would much rather report on swans and sunsets, but the reality is we’re losing young lives at an unprecedented rate.
It’s not pretty.
It’s heart wrenching.
It needs to stop.
2/25/2015
Robert Bastille,
Additional HN thoughts:
Conditions in the Greater Hyannis area are conducive to desperation and addiction.
An outdated economy based primarily on tourism… one that fails to meet the needs of the populace…
There’s a lack of leadership when it comes to discourse on attracting entry level careers which will make the area more appealing to thriving young families. Right now we seem to be a haven for wards of the state or welfare programs, which is generous, but we also need to be talking about attracting healthy working families as well.
I recently read a poem by Charles Bukowski, part of it reminded me of Hyannis when I think of all the aimless young lives existing here without hope or direction… (It’s a negative poem, describing a negative outlook, written by an alcoholic who had given into a hopeless depressing perspective… It’s negative, but brilliantly telling in some respects as well… Do many of our young adults suffer from a similar degree of hopelessness? Is the American dream dead for our residents? What about the Patti Page Cape Cod dream?)
“…born like this
into this
as the chalk faces smile
as Mrs. Death laughs
as the elevators break
as political landscapes dissolve
as the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree
as the oily fish spit out their oily prey
as the sun is masked
we are
born like this
into this
into these carefully mad wars
into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
into bars where people no longer speak to each other
into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
born into this
into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die
into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty
into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
born into this
walking and living through this
dying because of this
muted because of this
castrated
debauched
disinherited
because of this
fooled by this
used by this
pissed on by this
made crazy and sick by this
made violent
made inhuman
by this
the heart is blackened
the fingers reach for the throat
the gun
the knife
the bomb
the fingers reach toward an unresponsive god
the fingers reach for the bottle
the pill
the powder…”
P.S. – Today’s HyTown Vignette is brought to you by Johnny Cash… [Press play…]
Please feel free to comment below and share your thoughts on the subject. But please also be respectful to the families and loved ones of today’s victims.
