BRAINTREE – School children in communities throughout Western Massachusetts will join those in districts across Massachusetts receiving an unprecedented investment in evidence-based substance use prevention education under a new initiative announced Monday by Attorney General Maura Healey to tackle a significant unmet need in the state’s battle against the ongoing opioid crisis.
In announcements across the state in the coming days with local leaders, educators, students and law enforcement partners, AG Healey will distribute $700,000 in funding directly to school districts, nonprofits and community organizations to fund two years of prevention programming to 41 grantees in Massachusetts.
“We will never get control of this epidemic until prevention becomes a priority,” said AG Healey. “With these grants, we will partner with schools and community organizations to empower young people and protect the next generation from falling victim to this public health crisis. But, these grants are only a start, we must continue to address this unmet need.”
Students in Agawam, Westfield, Longmeadow and Belchertown public schools will join the Franklin County Regional Council of Governments, the Collaborative for Educational Services and the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office in participating in the effort.
“Westfield, like other communities across the Commonwealth, has been impacted by the Opioid Crisis,” said Susan Dargie, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Westfield Public Schools. “Our City’s Opioid Task Force has worked to provide awareness and support to families. We are grateful that the Youth Opioid Prevention Grant will allow us to extend these efforts to reach all students in grades 3 – 10 in the Westfield Public Schools through the implementation of the Botvin Life Skills curriculum units.”
AG Healey’s Youth Opioid Prevention Grant Program will provide funding over two years to 25 school districts as well as law enforcement agencies, nonprofits, and community health organizations. The programs will deliver evidence-based prevention programs to students at all grade levels about the dangers of opioid and other substance use. The AG’s Office announced the grant program in November after reaching a landmark settlement with CVS over its opioid dispensing practices.
The programs under this grant will run through April 2019 and are being funded by settlements the AG’s Office reached with CVS Pharmacy in September 2016 and later with Walgreens in January, totaling $700,000. Following the announcement of the grant program, the AG’s Office received 120 applications totaling nearly $4 million in requested funding from schools, community health centers, municipalities, police departments, and nonprofits.
In Massachusetts, opioid overdoses kill more than five people every day. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health estimates that 1,979 people – the highest number ever recorded in the state and a 13 percent increase year-over-year – died from opioid-related overdoses in 2016. Massachusetts has lost over 5,000 people to opioid overdoses in the last three years.
