Boston distributes 80,000 needles to drug users per month, inflaming Mass and Cass tensions

Tension in a packed Boston City Council hearing on how Mass and Cass spillover is taxing surrounding neighborhoods boiled over when a top Wu administration official said the city hands out more than 80,000 needles per month to drug users.

The admission came amid a back-and-forth between Councilors John FitzGerald, Ed Flynn and Boston Public Health Commissioner Bisola Ojikutu, who said the city handed out 14,500 needles last week and distributes 81,112 on average per month to drug addicts.

Amid audible gasps from the hundreds of people in attendance at the Hampton Inn and Suites at 811 Massachusetts Avenue on Thursday night, Ojikutu defended the city’s harm reduction approach as key to fending off HIV and other diseases that are commonly spread through shared needles during drug injection