Selectmen Vow to Fight Heroin Epidemic

After experiencing and observing the effects of heroin addiction, selectmen and local residents are working together to fight the epidemic taking place in Foxborough.

Selectman Jim DeVellis brought the issue to the board, recounting how heroin addiction can stem from taking Percocet or OxyContin for an athletics injury. While the injury may be healed and the prescription no longer needed, the addiction can remain.

“What happens in the prescription goes away and they’re addicted, they get stuck on it, they start stealing to buy it, they go into medicine cabinets, the next step is heroin which is a lot cheaper to buy than Oxycontin,” DeVellis said.

Showing how susceptible people can be to addiction, DeVellis recalled meeting a Foxborough native who came from a good family and was a positive member of the community, but lost it all because of addiction

“I’m not a panic person but this girl that came to me was a star athlete, she was a Warrior on the Foxboro teams, her parents volunteered. It’s a good family and I thought geez if this person who could have played Division 1 or 2 athletics lost her job and custody of her kids. it was a wake-up call for me,” he said.

Former selectmen Lynda Walsh and Mark Sullivan also spoke of personal encounters with individuals fighting addiction, adding that they want to see the town do more for families and individuals dealing with addiction.

For Town Manager Bill Keegan, the stories were similar to those heard during his time as the Dedham town manager.

“Everything I heard is what I heard a year ago in my previous job. It clearly is an epidemic and it’s something that people don’t want to talk about because it’s not something you typically hear. I can assure you it’s virtually everywhere and I don’t know of a community that is prepared for this,” Keegan said.

Walsh said a new group called Raising Addiction Awareness for Foxborough Teens (R.A.A.F.T.) is being formed to help fight addiction in teens. On May 6, the community is invited to a viewing of the documentary An American Epidemic at Showcase Cinemas at Patriot Place.

Selectmen Chair Lorraine Brue, who worked at an outpatient addiction treatment program, said she would arrange for an expert to speak at the selectmen’s next meeting on April 28.

The rise in heroin use is not expected to go away in the near future. Last year, Gov. Deval Patrick budgeted $20 million to focus on the problem. This year, Gov. Charlie Baker created a 17-person panel to figure out the best way to fight the epidemic.