Surgeon General Visits Boston Clinic on Opioid Epidemic Tour
The Boston stop on Murthy’s “Turn the Tide Rx” tour brought him to the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program on Albany Street, at the heart of “Methadone Mile,” so nicknamed for the cluster of homeless shelters and drug addiction programs there that draw people battling substance abuse from across the city. Accompanied by the program’s top officials and state Health Commissioner Monica Bharel, Murthy toured the facility and met with patients who shared their stories of stigmatization and recovery.
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy visited what some locals call “the worst intersection in Boston” on Friday as part of his effort to talk to prescribers nationwide about how they can address the country’s rising opioid crisis.
The Boston stop on Murthy’s “Turn the Tide Rx” tour brought him to the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program on Albany Street, at the heart of “Methadone Mile,” so nicknamed for the cluster of homeless shelters and drug addiction programs there that draw people battling substance abuse from across the city. Accompanied by the program’s top officials and state Health Commissioner Monica Bharel, Murthy toured the facility and met with patients who shared their stories of stigmatization and recovery.
Murthy is visiting the states hardest hit by the prescription opioid epidemic. In Massachusetts, the number of opioid-related deaths has nearly tripled in the last decade. After the tour, Murthy participated in a panel discussion at Harvard Medical School, where he told roughly 200 people including prescribers in the audience how they could contribute to his campaign against opioid abuse.
