Purple Flags At Acushnet Fire Station Signify Drug Overdoses

ACUSHNET (CBS) -- Acushnet Fire Chief Kevin Gallagher says there are similarities between the AIDS crisis in its infancy and the opiate epidemic we're seeing now.

Twenty small purple flags outside the fire house represent the drug overdoses in the town this year.

In 2014, they had 21 overdoses.

"Now we're seeing that it really knows no demographics anymore. It affects every age group," Gallagher said.

It's become so bad that some police departments are collecting needles discarded at public beaches where families have found them in the sand.

Public health officials say the problem often begins with prescription pain killers when the user runs out and finds themselves addicted, they turn to heroin.

Last spring in one 24-hour period in New Bedford, they had 14 overdoses.

"The problem has increased here along with the potency of the heroin we're seeing," says New Bedford Fire Chief Michael Gomes.

In Taunton, a firefighter told WBZ the heroin problem is so bad that some of the users hang around the fire house just in case they overdose.