Needles found at Jamaica Plain school lead to arrest, point to growing problem

Complaints about numerous uncapped hypodermic needles abandoned in the parking lot and playground of a Jamaica Plain school led to an arrest this weekend and point to a problem one city councilor said seems to be growing amid the pandemic.

“It’s chilling when you think of these syringes at a school or playground where children will be playing,” said City Councilor Matt O’Malley, whose district includes Jamaica Plain. “We’re seeing an increase and hearing anecdotally … that this pandemic is exacerbating the opioid epidemic.”

The city’s 311 system revealed 169 complaints about abandoned syringes in the past seven days alone. Most were reports for needles in alleys, sidewalks and yards. In at least four cases, syringes were discovered and removed from playgrounds.

In the last month, four complaints have resulted in the removal of seven syringes from the grounds of Nativity Preparatory School on Lamartine Street, according to city data. There are no reports of complaints of needles found at the Catholic school prior to August in the city’s 311 system.

Police said an investigation into increased drug activity in the area led to the arrest of 63-year-old Wayne Clark of Boston. Police said they charged Clark after observing an alleged drug exchange on the street. Police said Clark was carrying 13.1 grams of alleged crack cocaine and 10 grams of alleged fentanyl.

Clark will be arraigned on possession, trafficking and distribution charges on Monday, police said.

“This arrest comes as we, as a community, begin to turn our attention towards phased re-openings of our classrooms across the city with a focus on the safety of our students, staff members, school facilities and schoolyards,” police said.

Boston Archdiocese Superintendent Thomas Carroll said he is not aware of any issues with syringes being left the grounds of the organization’s Catholic schools during his year-and-a-half tenure. Nativity Preparatory, however, is an independent Catholic school not run by the Archdiocese and Carroll said he would “not normally be contacted by school officials from non-diocesan schools when issues come up.”

Nativity Preparatory administrators did not respond to questions on Sunday.

O’Malley said the city has been working in recent years to ramp up its sharps recovery team and increase access to treatment.

“It’s a huge issue and we need to make sure we have the resources available for, obviously, treatment and recovery on demand and resources to make it easier to keep our streets safe,” O’Malley said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3chFQfC