THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 Page 3 Councillors want greater MassDOT maintenance accountability By Adam Swift S everal City Councillors are unhappy with MassDOT’s DAN RIZZO Councillor-at-Large lack of maintenance of several areas in the city for which the agency is responsible. At last week’s meeting, Councillor-atLarge Dan Rizzo requested that the mayor contact the state transportation department to clean up areas under its jurisdiction in and around Bell Circle. Rizzo said there are numerous shopping carts, trash and debris, as well as the median strip on American Legion Highway in need of a cleanup. Rizzo said the Bell Circle area isn’t the only area in the city in need of attention from MassDOT. “There are a lot of areas I noticed,” said Rizzo. “Going up onto the onramp onto Rte. 1 on Sargent Street, it’s fi lthy over there. For whatever reason, it is just not being maintained and taken care of. “Our public works department takes care of what they are responsible for; I’m just asking, and we are all asking, that the DOT take care of their jurisdiction.” Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna said that many of the areas under MassDOT maintenance jurisdiction were under the jurisdiction of the state’s Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) until last year. “The DOT is not keeping up with anything,” said McKenna. “It took me a month and a half to have an island cut where the Sunoco station is going into Shirley Avenue.” Once a new governor is elected, McKenna said, the council should consider contacting the governor to have the jurisdiction for the maintenance switched back to the DCR. “I do think that the DCR has the equipment and the MassDOT doesn’t,” said McKenna. “There is a real problem, and it looks disgusting.” Typically, Rizzo said, he gets a response from the DOT, but he said the response was delayed when it came to the request to clean up the area around Bell Circle. “It’s embarrassing that people drive through the city and see the condition it’s in,” he said. At a minimum, Rizzo said, the city might consider bringing in prison crews or Roca (a local nonprofi t) to help clean up the areas. “MassDOT is supposed to do it and gets paid to do it, so why get Roca or someone else? That’s their responsibility,” said McKenna. DEA Warns of Brightly-Colored Fentanyl Used to Target Young Americans WASHINGTON – The Drug Enforcement Administration is advising the public of an alarming emerging trend of colorful fentanyl available across the United States. In August 2022, DEA and our law enforcement partners began seizing brightlycolored fentanyl and fentanyl pills in 18 states. Dubbed “rainbow fentanyl” in the media, this trend appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people. “Rainbow fentanyl—fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes—is a deliberate eff ort by drug traffi ckers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “The men and women of the DEA are relentlessly working to stop the traffi cking of rainbow fentanyl and defeat the Mexican drug cartels that are responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being traffi cked in the United States.” Brightly-colored fentanyl is being seized in multiple forms, including pills, powder, and blocks that resembles sidewalk chalk. Despite claims that certain colors may be more potent than others, there is no indication through DEA’s laboratory testing that this is the case. Every color, shape, and size of fentanyl should be considered extremely dangerous. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 10-15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose. Without laboratory testing, there is no way to know how much fentanyl is concentrated in a pill or powder. Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing this country. According to the CDC, 107,622 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, with 66 percent of those deaths related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Drug poisonings are the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Fentanyl available in the United States is primarily supplied by two criminal drug networks, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). In September 2021, DEA launched the One Pill Can Kill Public Awareness Campaign to educate Americans about the dangers of fake pills. Additional resources for parents and the community can be found on DEA's Fentanyl Awareness page. If you encounter fentanyl in any form, do not handle it and call 911 immediately. This weekend and throughout the year, we celebrate all those who work to make our community better. 100 Salem Turnpike, Saugus, MA 01906 WIN-WASTE.COM
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