South End residents upped calls for a greater response to drug use stemming from the Mass and Cass area in a regular neighborhood group meeting, with proposing the deployment of the National Guard and decentralizing needle exchanges.

“We would love to see the National Guard called in,” said Andrew Brand, co-president of the
Worcester Square Area Neighborhood Association (WSANA). “Everyone is saying we don’t have enough people. Maybe we should ask the mayor.”

The WSANA ‘s July meeting last week discussed the ongoing impact of drug use in the Mass and Cass area spreading out into the surrounding neighborhood.

Residents cited several safety incidents, including one near Worcester Square in which a homeless woman was squatting in the condo of a family while they were on vacation.

“My apartment was broken into and squatted in for overnight, and I was robbed of my valuables this past weekend as well,” one female resident of Worcester Square said during the meeting.

Several residents also expressed frustration with the ongoing bar advocate strike, which has led to over 100 defendants being released due to lack of representation in an emergency protocol.

Speakers also brought up the idea of spreading out the issue by decentralizing safe needle dissemination in the area.

“Not only do we discharge the people at BMC, but one block away, we give out all the needles, or the vast majority of the needles in the city, at AHOPE,” said Brand. “And we’ve been asking to decentralize that. Again, it’s not going to solve the problem citywide, and I hate to push our problems somewhere else, but we are desperate right now.”

Brand argued getting people into treatment is practically a “longer term” solution that has not yet worked, and the area needs more immediate action.

Tierney Flaherty, a representative of the Boston Public Health Commission, said AHOPE is one of several needle exchange sites. Flaherty said the city is making other changes to address the issue as well.

“To further the mayor’s goal of ending congregate outdoor use, we’ve changed a little bit of the way that we distribute harm reduction supplies,” said Flaherty. “You might be aware that we’re no longer doing that outdoors. Our outreach folks aren’t doing that. Instead, we are trying to get people to come indoors, to get those materials and to make it easier for us to connect them with services and get them on the path to recovery.”

Related Articles

Pols & Politics: 2 Boston Globe reporters attacked in Mass and Cass spillover hot spot

Squatter treats South End family’s empty home as hotel as Boston’s Mass and Cass spillover escalates

Editorial: Bike washing machine won’t clean up Mass and Cass

Councilor: Boston’s Mass and Cass drug crisis is worsening the city’s rat infestation

Editorial: Drug crisis isn’t just a Boston problem

Residents within the meeting and Sen. Nick Collins argued the crisis is outpacing the current response from the city and police capacity.

“Do you think it’s a state of emergency in a South End?” said Collins. “Most people I talk to think so, and the police are doing everything they can. … The police do not have, I mean, save for bringing the National Guard, we’re never gonna have the amount of public safety personnel to respond to everything that we see coming at a moment’s notice.”