DRUGS IN DEDHAM: Police fighting back but overwhelmed

Editors Note: This is the first article in a three-part series on drug addiction in Dedham. Other articles in this series will tackle the personal stories and town response.

In 2012 alone, Dedham Police responded to three fatal drug overdoses.

Drug addiction is also responsible for countless robberies in town, according to Dedham Police detectives Robert Walsh and Kevin Mahoney. They deal with the lions share of the departments drug cases.

Drug use is probably one of the bigger issues facing Dedham, Walsh said recently in his office on High Street. But Ill also say this: its no bigger a problem here than it is anywhere else.

Police are working to control the problem, but Walsh and Mahoney said they are getting overwhelmed. The need for drugs and the money to buy them drives people to shoplift, steal from family members and break into cars and homes. Finding a way to reverse the trend toward addiction could go a long way toward improving life in town, they said.

The primary cause of the widespread problem is the explosive growth of opiate pain medications pills like Percocet and OxyContin which contain habit-forming active ingredients, according to a recent statewide drug report.

Because these prescription medications are legally made and legitimately prescribed by physicians, theres a sense that they are OK to deal with, but they are real drugs, Walsh said.

Addicts often steal legally obtained drugs from relatives or buy them from dealers who acquire them unlawfully from pain clinics or pharmacies, Mahoney said.

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DRUGS IN DEDHAM: Police fighting back but overwhelmed