Town Council Starts Committee to Fight Opioid Epidemic

BRAINTREE, MA - The Braintree Town Council is hoping a new committee can come up with a few answers in the fight against opioids.

For the last couple of weeks, the Braintree Town Council Special Committee on the Opioid Epidemic has been meeting, according to Councilman Charles Kokoros.

“We have worked 2.5-3 hours at each meeting trying to figure out ways to stop youths from taking drugs, taking opioids, and educating parents on how to talk to their children,” he said during Tuesday’s Town Council meeting. “We are working hard to come up with the best education possible. We’ve had very long and fruitful meetings to come up with ideas.”

The message was delivered in front of an ideal audience as the meeting was attended by many high school students who were being honored for their winter sports achievements.

“It’s a serious issue and I hope you understand the success you have here is extremely important and to continue that success, you have to stay away from alcohol and drugs, but opioids are killing people,” he said.

At a recent meeting, Braintree Fire and Brewster Ambulance officials told the council there were five confirmed opioid-related overdose deaths in Braintree in 2015. Six deaths were recorded in 2014, according to the state's Department of Public Health. Overall, there were 79 overdoses in 2015.

“The bottom line is that it is death. It’s not fun, it’s death. I hate to be so negative but I hope you all understand,” Kokoros said.

Residents can keep up with the committee’s work through a Facebook page and Twitter account created by Councilwoman Shannon Hume.

In addition to Kokoros and Hume, Councilors Paul "Dan" Clifford, Michael Owens, and Sean Powers are members of the committee.

Click here to visit the Facebook page and here to head to the Twitter account.