West Springfield and Agawam are the two most recent western Massachusetts communities to join a federal lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
The lawsuit alleges the pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and wholesale distributors created the opioid crisis “by recklessly dumping millions of prescription opiates… without regard to the devastating consequences.”
Mayor Will Reichelt told 22News opioid overdose is a big problem in West Springfield, “Because of Route 5 and the amount of hotels and motels and the traffic that we get, I think opioids are kind of a bigger deal here than maybe some of the other comminutes, Holyoke, Springfield and Chicopee definitely have large problems as well but I think we rank up there with them.”
From 2000 to 2015, Massachusetts saw a 372 percent increase in deadly drug overdoses.
