Re: Crack Drug Bust In New Hampshire
Wan Cabiness
For local and federal authorities, it was an enormous win; Manchester police called it the largest drug takedown in city history. Twenty-two defendants were indicted or charged, and seized were 1.6 kilograms of suspected cocaine, 250 grams of suspected fentanyl, and 100 bags of suspected controlled substances, as well as firearms and $26,000 in cash.
A major interruption in a drug market can be a dangerous time for those with substance use disorder. The people who depend on the operation to feed their diseases suddenly see their dealers disappear and supply cut off.
A growing body of national research links law enforcement drug operations to a rise in overdoses after the fact. Published in the American Journal of Public Health on June 7, the same day the news in Manchester broke, a new study drew strong associations between a major opioid bust and fatal overdoses in an Indianapolis neighborhood.
They contacted street outreach programs, recovery centers, social services, and others across the city about the potential for overdose risk, utilized real-time overdose data to track activity and potential hotspots, and deployed a Rapid Overdose Assessment Response Team.
Barter oversees three internal data dashboards that police examine each morning to see how many overdoses occurred in the past day, and where. The data can help pinpoint locations for outreach and fast interventions, or indicate areas where perhaps a bad batch of drugs is going around.
As of two weeks after the bust, the city had not seen a statistically significant change in overdoses, officials reported. Barter did note the Hillsborough County House of Corrections experienced four or five overdoses, one of them fatal, on Saturday, June 17.
In the case of this 500-meter area in Indianapolis, about a third of a mile, the study found fatal overdoses doubled within seven days, which del Pozo said represents a small number at the neighborhood level, but adds up over time. Calls to 911 and use of naloxone, or Narcan, also increased.
In the aftermath of a significant drug market disruption, del Pozo said community partners and agencies should expand access to naloxone and fentanyl test strips, while issuing public advisories and breaking down any immediate barriers to treatment services.
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency is often a lead player in major trafficking takedowns. It was one of several agencies that helped investigate the ring that operated between Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Manchester. Court documents allege that customers called dispatch telephone numbers to order drugs, and drug runners drove to meet them at predetermined locations to sell them the product.
The growing associations between law enforcement drug action and overdoses raise the question of what role, if any, federal agencies like the DEA play in assisting a local community with any potential inadvertent fallout. The DEA declined to comment for this story.
The city also leveraged some federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars to create community response units made up of plain-clothes police officers and health workers, small teams that visit with people who have recently overdosed.
New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: in...@newhampshirebulletin.com. Follow New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and Twitter.
Hadley Barndollar covered climate, energy, environment, and the opioid crisis for the New Hampshire Bulletin. Previously, she was the New England regional reporter for the USA TODAY Network and was named Reporter of the Year by the New England Newspaper and Press Association.
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Two University of Massachusetts students were among four people arrested in drug raids last month in two separate apartments that led to the seizure of over $12,000 in cash and several other drugs, including several pounds of marijuana.
Amherst Police Department (APD) raided the apartments, at 394 Puffton Village and 44 Mill Hollow Apartments, Feb. 20 after undercover officers made purchases there, according to the Hampshire Gazette.
UMass student Jesse S. Schauffer, 22, was arrested in connection with the Puffton raid in his apartment and was charged with possession of a class D substance, marijuana, with intent to sell. The Gazette reported that APD seized four pounds of high-grade Canadian marijuana, $12,000 in cash, three safes and a BB gun from the apartment. The marijuana was vacuum-sealed in one-pound bags and has a street value of over $1,500, according to the Gazette.
A second raid related raid on the night of Feb. 20 at 44 Mill Hollow Apartments on Summer Street led to the arrest of three people, including UMass student Leah B. Kimmel, 22, of Swampscott, Mass. Kimmel also pled innocent on Friday to two charges, possession of a class B substance (oxycodone) and possession of a class D substance.
Other arrests made on Feb. 20 in the Mill Hollow raid include Leonard Aylward, 23, of Amherst, and Danny W. Mastroianni, 23, of East Longmeadow. Aylward pled innocent Friday to possession of a class D substance and Mastroianni pled innocent to possession of a class B substance (Alderol).
The investigation began with a tip from Greenfield police last month alerting Amherst police and members of the Hampshire-Franklin Drug Task Force to the possibility of drugs being sold at 44 Mill Hollow.
This is the second major drug bust involving UMass students this school year. The first, a seizure of $24,000 in cash, a large quantity of marijuana and individually wrapped baggies of marijuana from a Kennedy dorm room last semester, was the biggest cash seizure at the University in 30 years, according to UMPD spokesman Jim Lyons. The raid of the room originated with a search warrant for a stolen laptop computer that OIT traced to the room.
Steven Y. Nguyen, 20, of Southborough, Mass., was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property (the laptop) valued at more than $250 and possession of a class D substance with intent to distribute. Yuta Nakamura, 22, of Singapore, was charged with possession of a class D substance. Both men pled innocent to the charges in Hampshire District Court in January.
Another armed robbery on Feb. 20 in Cashin Hall is still under investigation. UMass police suspect that it was also drug-related. The arrest of one student, Young W. Lee, 20, of Tenafly, N.J., has already been made in that case.
Several efforts this past legislative session sought to decriminalize what harm reduction advocates call life-saving tools in an increasingly adulterated and contaminated drug market. House Bill 287, which Sununu signed on Aug. 4, will allow the general public to possess testing strips and other materials intended to detect fentanyl and xylazine in a substance.
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