Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan addressed a national group Tuesday about western Massachusetts’ multi-faceted approach to drug addiction.
The Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program National meeting is being held through Friday in Washington, D.C.
Since receiving a grant from the program in 2014, Sullivan’s office has worked with Franklin and Hampshire Opioid Abuse Task forces, local, state and federal emergency services, health care and law enforcement agencies to develop and enact a regionwide approach to prescription monitoring and dispensing.
Named after a Kentucky congressman, the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which is administered by the U.S. Justice Department, was launched in 2002 to enhance the capacity of regulatory and law enforcement agencies to collect and analyze controlled substance prescription data.
The program’s goals include identifying best practices to fight addiction and related crime and developing prevention and education strategies and technical assistance in collecting, tracking and analyzing data to identify prescription drug trends, according to a press release from the office.
Sullivan’s presentation covered the district attorney’s office’s creation, in consultation with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, of a video “Athletes, Opioids & Addiction” for high school athletes, parents and coaches.
In the 17-minute video, local addiction specialist Dr. Ruth Potee guides athletes, parents and coaches on how and why it is important to reduce or eliminate the use of opioid-based pain relievers when treating sports injuries.
The video will be shown at concussion and opioid training for student athlete sessions at local high schools, including a screening Wednesday night at Frontier Regional School in South Deerfield.