North Shore Opiate Addiction Summit Will Hold Second Forum

If you or a loved one needs help with an opiate addiction, you are invited to attend the North Shore Opiate Addiction Summit on March 14th from 5-9 p.m. at the Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus.

Opiates include, but are not limited to, Oxycontin, Vicodin, Percocet, heroin, morphine and fentanyl. During this event, participants will have an opportunity to: learn about opiate addiction and how to recognize and respond to an overdose; speak with addiction service providers to learn where and how to access treatment and recovery resources for all stages of opiate addiction; hear personal stories of addiction and recovery; and receive a training on how to administer NARCAN, which is an opiate overdose reversal drug.

This free event is the follow up to the North Shore Opiate Overdose Summit that took place on Jan. 31 at which over 120 community leaders came together to discuss the opioid overdose crisis along the North Shore of Massachusetts. It was the first summit aimed to create connections and dialogue amongst the public officials and private organizations that face the impact of overdose everyday.  According to the state Department of Public Health, between 2003-2008, over 4,000 Massachusetts residents died from opiate-related overdoses, and many communities north of Boston continue to lose lives every month to overdose. Community and municipal leadership from Revere, Saugus and Winthrop, brought leaders together from across the region to raise awareness about the crisis facing communities and share examples of community strategies to decrease opiate use and abuse.

The March 14th summit aims to provide support and hope to community members on the North Shore who may be struggling with an opiate addiction or who have a love one who is. A youth summit will also be happening concurrently at the same location. During the youth event, peer leadership groups from Revere, Saugus, and Winthrop will have an opportunity to discuss activities they are implementing in their own communities to prevent youth substance abuse, and to generate ideas on how to continue their prevention efforts among their peers.

The North Shore Opiate Addiction Summit for community members and youth will be held on Thursday, March 14 at the Kowloon Restaurant on Route 1 north in Saugus. Appetizers will be served from 5-6 p.m. and the speaking program will take place from 6-9 p.m. Please visit the Revere CARES website (www.reverecares.org) for the latest summit updates, including any scheduling changes in the event of snow. For questions about this summit, please contact Katie Sugarman at cmsugarman@partners.org or 781-485-6404.

This event is being sponsored by the Town of Saugus, the City of Revere, the Town of Winthrop, the Revere CARES Coalition, the Saugus Anti-Drug Coalition, Saugus We Care, Community Against Substance Abuse, Inc. (CASA) of Winthrop, the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery and the MGH Center for Community Health Improvement.