By Jenny Byxbee
With about 120 people attending, it was standing room only on Jan. 26 for the community forum “Chasing the Dragon” at Greenwich Town Hall. The forum addressed issues relating to the rapidly increasing concern over opioid addiction in our community.
According to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Wilson Compton, “most of the heroin users now, their first opioid exposures are the prescription drugs. That’s true for at least 80 percent of today’s heroin addicts.” In fact, between 2000 and 2014 the rates of deaths from prescription-opioid overdose nearly quadrupled.
This is community event, which sought to inform and educate Greenwich residents, was made possible by The Greenwich Police Department, The Greenwich Department of Social Services, The First Selectman’s Youth Commission, Liberation Programs, and Communities 4 Action.
“It is important for us to try to address this national epidemic, in which Greenwich is not immune,” cautioned Sgt John Thorme, Community Impact Supervisor.
At the event, FBI Community Outreach Specialist, Charles Grady was the keynote speaker. His presentation “Chasing the Dragon” provided further insight to the drug epidemic in Connecticut.
In addition to the presentation, panel members from the Greenwich community, including the Dept. of Social Services, the Greenwich Police Dept., Liberation Programs, and Communities 4 Action took questions from the audience.
“The recently completed report by the Greenwich Department of Social Services and Liberation Programs on opioid use in Greenwich clearly indicates that opioid dependence and addiction is a serious public health problem that requires immediate attention from both medical professionals and Greenwich residents,” warned Dr. Alan Barry Commissioner of Social Services.
