Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 6, 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 25 The opioid crisis hits home The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Brad Kane, editor, at bkane@wbjournal.com. A mong the concerns of human rights and security, President Donald Trump and his Cabinet picks are doing little to continue the progress we've made for low-cost efficiency and local clean energy. After his promises to expand fossil fuel use, the opportunity for communities to innovate their economy may slip away. Putting a price on carbon would encourage accountability on heavy polluters make the choice to invest in clean energy and low-carbon growth. Carbon pricing shifts the social costs of climate change onto polluters, lev- eling the playing field and changing the incentive structure underpinning our over-reliance on dirty, less effi- cient fuel sources. Two bills in the Massachusetts legislature propose a statewide carbon pollution fee. Revenue from the bills can be used to support economic growth in the form of rebates, tax cuts and smart investments. HD 1504, spon- sored by State Rep. Jennifer Benson (D-Acton), calls for a pollution fee in which 20 percent of the revenue is invest- ed into clean energy infrastructure, and 80 percent is returned to households and businesses. SD 1021 from Sen. Michael Barrett (D-Sudbury) returns 100 percent of the revenue to households and businesses. Passing a carbon price on the state level would be a huge win to our state's local economy. With the majority of our energy coming from natural gas, a carbon price would diversify our energy portfolio. Additionally, because Massachusetts imports all of our natural gas, money spent on natural gas is money sent out of state. Pricing carbon would reduce the amount of money sent out of state, returning it to the public where it can be recycled within the local economy, bringing jobs, invest- ment and innovation to Massachusetts. Because the car- bon pollution fee starts low and increases over years, busi- nesses have time to plan low-carbon solutions. Carbon pricing is already becoming deeply embedded into business strategy. A growing number of companies are using the adoption of dynamic carbon prices in order to better inform the financial benefits and risks of invest- ing in new projects. Businesses understand their future stock price value faces risk due to the effects of carbon pollution, whether they have a large carbon footprint or not. Adoption of internal carbon prices by the private sec- tor is a trend that represents not only the maturation of companies when it comes to addressing their carbon foot- print but also the wide belief among business leaders that carbon will be priced. This trend will grow as businesses increasingly respond to the growing investor sentiment that carbon pollution poses significant financial risk. Carbon pricing is a practical solution to spurs the tran- sition to a low-carbon, innovation economy. In a time when political progress on the national stage seems to be moving in retrograde, advocate for a carbon pollution fee at the state level to show your companies' true values. Kate Galbo is programs manager for the Massachusetts advocacy group Climate Action Business Association. Mass. needs carbon pollution fees I n the past, it has been a lot easier to feel the six degrees of separation from you when it came to the sordid world of heroin addicts, dirty needles and hard drugs. It was easy to think of the victims of that world as marginal people who were misguided or just morally weak. How much of an effect did their troubles have on your busi- ness? Often the answer was not much, or none at all. It was a problem you could easily ignore. That is no longer true. The crisis is here, and it's in our face. Few businesses are immune to its impact. The current opioid crisis dwarfs any past drug period in its deadliness. If you don't know someone personally who has lost a friend, associate, loved one or family member to this crisis, then ask a co- worker or neighbor. None of us can be more than one degree of separation from feeling the pain. In a state with an unemployment rate of under 4 percent and lots of job openings, we've lost 1,465 people to this scourge in 2016, according to pre- liminary figures from the state. They were young, bright, and evenly distributed among race and socioeconomic groups. This is an equal opportuni- ty disease. The 2016 figure is nearly double the deaths from opioids in 2013. According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health records, 25 percent of all deaths in the state for 15-24 year olds were from opioid overdoses, while that number rises to 27 percent of deaths in the 45-54 age group, and among 25-34 year olds, a staggering 38 percent of all deaths. Those percentage figures are projected to go up by several percentage points by the time all the death certificates with their toxicology reports are submitted for the fourth quarter. In Worcester County, the opioid overdose death rate has accelerated at a grim level – 85 deaths in 2012, 106 deaths in 2013, 147 deaths in 2014, and 203 in 2015. The 2016 death count will inevitably rise above all these. As a chart of the human lives lost by our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and in many cases – our family – it is truly shocking. Today, 80 percent of opioid addicts did not sim- ply slip into hard drugs – they found their way there through a pill, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. They found it from a football injury, a car accident, a surgery or a bad back that landed them a large container of opioids, like Oxycontin or Percocet. They landed there and got stuck, often fighting for a way out, but not knowing where or who to turn to for help. Treatment options have increased, the state passed opioid legislation a year ago, and President Donald Trump mentioned the importance of fund- ing in his speech to Congress. But the death num- bers are still stubbornly rising. This crisis needs ideas, energy, resources, creativity and, perhaps most importantly, understanding from our busi- ness leaders. We're losing workers – many bright young lives who had a real contribution to make to our society, our economy and their families. The Worcester County District Attorney's Office has a growing task force on the issue – consider joining it. WBJ has an Opioid Crisis Forum for employers at the end of the month – consider attending and learning more about the issue. Central Mass. has always had a strong sense of community and concern for its neighbors. Let's show it by learning more about this crisis, remov- ing the stigma, helping its many victims, and pre- venting others from going down that path. V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L BY KATE GALBO Special to the Worcester Business Journal Kate Galbo W WO R D F R O M T H E W E B Comments of the issue "Why in God's name would anyone have a nonstop that arrives at South Station after 9 a.m.? Maybe if it arrived at, say 8:45 or 8:30, more people would use the service. Similarly, who seriously wants to leave Boston after 7:30 p.m.?" - Anonymous commenter, Feb. 23, about a story on the HeartToHub nonstop commuter rail train between Worcester and Boston hurting for riders "Having said no, I can also say I've attended the funerals of more than two sub-22 year- olds in the suburbs. Work-specific or not, it's a horrific problem." - Anonymous commenter, Feb. 21, responding to a WBJ poll on whether the opioid epidemic impacts businesses Facebook feedback "Job well done for a city truly on the move." - Steve Quist, Feb. 28, on JetBlue lanuching nonstop service from Worcester to New York City WBJ Tweet of the week "Congratulations, Worcester's new Commerce Bank AVP, and Becker grad! @WBJournal" - Becker College (@BeckerCollege) on Feb. 24, about Becker grad Shana Hazen being named the new assistant vice president at Commerce Bank W

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