More addicts are shooting up inside Massachusetts General Hospital

The number of drug abusers shooting up inside Massachusetts General Hospital has increased over the last 18 months as addicts hope that being in a medical center will reduce the risk of a deadly overdose.

The hospital has increased its overdose-combatting efforts, including providing more personnel with the opiate antidote Narcan, as a growing number of addicts have been shooting up in onsite bathrooms, passage ways and parking garages, the Boston Herald reported.

“I think we see more overdoses in bathrooms and other places in the hospital so people can have that access of help around, because they know their odds are so great they can overdose,” Dawn Williamson, MGH emergency department nurse and a clinical specialist in addiction, was quoted by the Herald.

One technique used by drug abusers is to tie bathroom emergency pull cords to their bodies in case they collapse from an overdose, WCVB stated.

Boston Medical Center has implemented a similar overdose-avoiding protocol by providing its security guards with the antidote Narcan, WCVB added.

Recent Department of Public Health data revealed that accidental opioid deaths increased by 65 percent in Massachusetts between 2012 and 2014, according to the Herald.