Today in Massachusetts, opiates kill three people per day. These numbers have been skyrocketing: In 2014, the number of confirmed cases of unintentional opioid overdose deaths climbed 63% over 2012 levels and 20% over 2013.
Join us Thursday, Jan. 14, at the JP Forum at the First Church of Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist at 6 Eliot St. for a conversation about new approaches to addiction and treatment. We’ll learn that while headlines have focused on the growing numbers of overdose deaths from opiates and the related trends of prescription drug abuse, there have been dramatic shifts in our understanding of both addiction and treatment options.
Our panel will include four professionals who have distinctive experiences with key aspects of this change:
> MA State Representative Liz Malia (D-Jamaica Plain), House Chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Use
> Honorable John E. McDonald, Jr., Boston Municipal Court, East Boston Drug Court Division
> Henrietta Robin Barnes, M.D., JP resident, primary care physician, and author of the newly released “Hijacked Brains: The Experience and Science of Chronic Addiction”
> Windia Rodriguez, Northeast and Boston Regional Coordinator of Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR)
Read more at http://jamaicaplainforum.org/event/science-addiction-and-the-changing-context-of-treatment-with-rep-liz-malia-and-friends. Hope to see you there!