Burrillville offers help for addicts

Task force set up to make treatment readily available

BURRILLVILLE — The town is set to launch a substance abuse prevention and addiction assistance program where any town resident struggling with a heroin or other narcotics addiction can get plugged into a treatment program.

The Burrillville Prevention Action Coalition, a task force that includes Burrillville Police Chief Stephen Lynch, School Superintendent Frank W. Pallotta, Town Council President John

Pacheco and task force coordinator Gabrielle Abbate, came up with the idea, which includes hiring an addiction program coordinator and a substance abuse prevention coordinator.

At a meeting last week, the Town Council unanimously voted to fund the substance abuse prevention program and coordinator position up to $129,260 with a Partnership for Success grant, and the addiction assistance program and coordinator position with $94,778 from the town’s general fund.

The program will be evalu- ated over a period of two years, said Town Manager Michael C. Wood.

“This is the evolution of what we want to do to deal with the substance abuse problems in our own town,” Wood said. “I think they’ve come up with a good plan and hopefully it will address this substance abuse scourge.”

Lynch said that since Jan. 1, police officers have engaged in 13 Narcan saves.

Narcan is the brand name of Naloxone, a prescription medication used to reverse the effects of opioid drugs, such as heroin, during an overdose. Trained law enforcement personnel typi- cally administer nasal Narcan, which is a mist that delivers the drug to the nasal linings. When administered, the drug brings the patient out of the overdose. It can work within five minutes.

“That number may not seem like much, but when you think about it that’s 13 lives saved,” he said. “That number does not include rescue calls. Many times our people are getting to the scene at the same time as rescue personnel.”

“Every week we are dealing with some form of this issue, but unfortunately, that’s the world we live in,” Lynch said.

When he first discussed the program with the council last year, Lynch said it would allow town residents struggling with a heroin or other narcotics addiction to come to the police station, surrender their drugs without fear of arrest and get plugged into a treatment program.

The program is based loosely on the police assisted addiction recovery initiative in Gloucester, Mass. that helps fast- track heroin addicts into treatment. As part of that program, addicts regardless of where they live, can come to the police station and be connected to a treatment program if they commit to getting clean. They are assigned a volunteer – sometimes a recovering addict – who works with them. They can also turn in their drugs and drug paraphernalia, no questions asked.

The Gloucester Police Department funds its program with money seized in drug arrests. The department has placed more than 260 addicts into treatment since the program began.

Councilman Raymond Trinque said the program will benefit residents in rural Burrillville who don’t have easy access to help.

“We have a lot of people who are secluded and don’t live near bus lines or treatment centers,” he said.