Saugus bands together to battle drug addiction

SAUGUS – Greg Nickolas said in his 15 years trying to prevent opiate overdoses in Saugus, he believes the town finally has a chance in reducing its high risk by admitting it has a problem.Community members did just that by showing up in force Wednesday night at Town Hall for a meeting to discuss the town?s participation in the Massachusetts Opioid Prevention Collaborative Program (MOAPC). Saugus had been an at-risk community since it was defined at a third higher than the national average for opioid overdoses, but a rash of them last year has brought the prevalence of addiction in Saugus to better attention.Nickolas, director of Youth and Recreation for the town, said Saugus wouldn?t have met the criteria for the program if it didn?t have a problem. “If you don?t shed light on the problem, it won?t go away,” he told the almost 50 in attendance.Revere Fire Capt. Jay Picariello, a Saugus resident, said for a long time the Saugus community didn?t admit to having an addiction problem because as a family-oriented and bedroom community, they were afraid of the stigma attached to it. “The stereotype of addiction isn?t what it is today,” he said. “Everyone assumes it?s the kid from the broken home who should be an addict, but it happens to all of us. It doesn?t have boundaries.”MOAPC will link Saugus up with fellow at-risk communities – Saugus, Chelsea and Winthrop, with Revere as the leader since it?s been successful at reducing their overdose problem – to assess and identify the community?s overdose problems and put plans into action to prevent and reduce them. The four communities will have $100,000 over three years to put into play their programs.Wednesday night?s meeting kick-started the process when representatives from the fire and police departments, school administration, town officials, department heads, health professionals and residents broke into groups to define who will need to be targeted in the community for a focus group or one-on-one interview to find out where the access is for drugs, how addiction occurs, and who are the at-risk people for it.