BIG PHARMA IN BIG TROUBLE –

May 21, 2021 – Alexa Perivolotis, program director at Alyssa’s Place, said the message of the series, which is aimed at showing how the fallout from drug addiction can affect anyone, is especially timely as the COVID-19 pandemic health safety restrictions are lifted. “There’s definitely been an uptick — at least in the last month or so — of overdoses in (the area), especially in Fitchburg and Worcester,” she said. “The isolation for people has not been good. The lack of connection also hurts because people need to be around other people who are in recovery, and that hasn’t been the case for a lot of people for the last year.” Veronika Patty, the city’s prevention coordinator, said the past 14 months or so have been challenging ones for her office when it came to public outreach efforts on the issue of substance abuse because of the lack of in-person events and virtual-only school programs.

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