'Methadone Mile': 5 Investigates looks inside a hub of Boston's drug crisis
Drug deals and hypodermic needles on the street. People so high they can barely stand. Others bent over, staggering down the sidewalks.
The ravages of drug addiction are in plain sight.
"They're almost like numb,” said Jamie Oberle, a recovering heroin addict. “Maybe they don't know where they're walking, but they just like keep going."
And so do the people walking by them.
It's almost as if these addicts have become invisible.
This scene plays out daily in and around the intersection of Mass Ave and Melnea Cass Boulevard, in the shadow of one of the city's busiest hospitals, Boston Medical Center.
To some it's better known as Methadone Mile.
"If we went there right now, within a half hour... I could probably have drugs," Oberle said.
Oberle should know. He became addicted to heroin after getting hooked on prescription painkillers he took for a high school football injury. Eventually he ended up in a halfway house on Methadone Mile, which is home to many drug treatment centers, a methadone clinic and two homeless shelters.
He quickly learned how hard it is to fight addiction in a place with temptations from so many drug users on the streets, everywhere, every day.
"You would have to essentially what I call walk the gauntlet,” Oberle says. “You have to pass by these people and like for me essentially, if you hang around a barber shop long enough you're going to get a haircut.
"It got to the point where it took just one really bad day, cross paths with someone, and I was just like, 'Can you get me drugs?'"
5 Investigates spent many days on Methadone Mile over the last four months. We saw drug deals, including one where a woman goes into her backpack and appears to exchange pills for cash.
Our cameras also captured a man pulling a hypodermic needle out of another man’s pocket and numerous incoherent, barely conscious addicts staggering past hospital entrances and ambulances.
We went there one day with Billy Pfaff, the founder of a group called Heroin is Killing My Town, who does outreach across the state to try to get people help.
He asked one woman if she wanted help. "I'll get you treatment," he told her.
We came across a broken syringe, and Billy said, "If you were here for some reason and your child grabbed that, what would you ever do?"
We showed some of our video from Methadone Mile to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and asked him if he thought the situation there is acceptable and why little has been done to address it.
"It's not acceptable and it's sad," Mayor Walsh said. “I can’t speak to why the city has not been that invested in it. I mean they were invested in it. I’m not going to criticize the city in the past, I just think the problem’s greater today.
"You're not going to push your way out of the situation, you can't arrest your way out of the situation. This has to be dealt with [with] one on one counseling, talking to people."
Mayor Walsh said his new city budget includes $1.2 million for more drug counselors and security staff.
"This will be the first neighborhood we target into, to go into and try to do some of our work," he told 5 Investigates.
Oberle is one of the lucky ones. He escaped from Methadone Mile.
"My last day running around in that area I had got robbed, I got beat up by like five guys," he said.
With help from a 12 step program, he has completely turned his life around. He is now an EMT.
"I was bringing a patient in that area and we dropped him off, literally right within that area," Oberle said. "It makes me realize how far I've come and how lucky I am and not to take it for granted."
He said the people on Methadone Mile should not be ignored. "They have blood running through their veins, they have hair, they have two eyes, they have a nose, they have a mouth. They're human beings."
A spokesman for the Boston Police said the department has been actively policing Methadone Mile. He said that since last fall, police have made 77 drug arrests in that area, as well as 166 arrests on other charges, such as outstanding warrants and disorderly conduct.
“We understand that there is a problem, and we prefer to provide assistance to those who need help. That said, individuals supplying drugs remain our focus for specific enforcement including arrests and prosecution,” Lt. Michael McCarthy told 5 Investigates.
Boston Medical Center gave us a written statement which said:
“The opioid crisis has created significant challenges to communities across the nation. This epidemic recognizes no geographic or social boundaries and City leaders and the Boston Police Department are working hard to address this problem in our own community. As the largest safety-net hospital in New England, Boston Medical Center will continue to engage with the City, Boston Police and the community to find solutions and to ensure a safe and secure environment for patients, visitors, employees and students.”