We’ve got a drug problem in the Bay State, and the time for NIMBY is over.

The relentless crisis at Mass and Cass ebbs and flows as the city initiates sweeps and programs and outreach efforts, only to see dealers and addicts return. The problem has spilled to other, equally frustrated neighborhoods.

Yet despite the addict population hailing from Massachusetts cities and towns outside of Boston, it’s Hub taxpayers who are tasked with funding fixes.

No more, says Boston City Councilor John FitzGerald.

He introduced a hearing order at yesterday’s council meeting “regarding the creation of a regional substance use disorder and mental health fund” that would shift today’s “city-alone model” to a regional cost-sharing approach.

Good luck with that.

It’s a good idea, a smart idea. But we already had a taste of “not in my backyard” attempts to avoid sharing the burden.

Four years ago, Acting Mayor Kim Janey wanted to rent hotel rooms in Revere to homeless people living on Mass and Cass. Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo was not on board.

“Municipal leaders who say that we need to do this work as a region but who fail to take responsibility in their own city or town may be making a good sound bite. But, it does not solve the problem,” Janey said in a statement.

The plan never came to fruition, and FitzGerald is taking another shot at a regional alliance approach.

“This isn’t just a Boston crisis — it’s a regional one,” FitzGerald said. “Many of the individuals at Mass and Cass aren’t from Boston, yet it’s Boston taxpayers who are bearing the full financial burden.”

That dynamic is “not fair,” Fitzgerald said, and it’s “not sustainable.”

No, it isn’t. Unfortunately it’s more convenient for our neighbors to see Boston as having the lion’s share of the problem, despite the actual makeup of the Mass and Cass population. Things that happen in Boston, stay in Boston.

That mindset helps no one.

FitzGerald said he envisions a regional fund with contributions from neighboring communities, to ensure that Greater Boston cities and towns that benefit from Boston’s addiction and housing services also help to pick up the tab.

He said his fund is meant to encourage those other communities to be a “good neighbor.” We need more of those, and fewer leaders who fail to see the big picture: substance abuse is an epidemic, and epidemics spread.

If Boston and neighboring cities form an alliance to fight the problem, we could all benefit. The region could be an example of coming together to fight a scourge that has destroyed families and shattered lives.

FitzGerald also floated the idea of regional money being used to fund “Recover Boston,” an interim addiction recovery campus pitched by the Newmarket Business Improvement District since August 2023. It’s a stopgap until the city can rebuild the Long Island Bridge out to a permanent 35-acre recovery campus.

The sooner we have a working recovery campus until the Long Island Bridge is rebuilt, the sooner addicts from Boston and our neighboring cities can have a chance to turn their lives around and get healthy.

We’re all in this together.

Editorial cartoon by Al Goodwyn (Creators Syndicate)