A task force created by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to tackle the state’s heroin and prescription drug overdose crisis is getting to work.
The first of four public meetings the 17- member panel has scheduled around the state took place Tuesday in Worcester. Baker has called the overdose epidemic a public health emergency and a top priority for his new administration. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito was sheduled to attend the panel’s first meeting.
" Lets just say no, and really begin a whole public awareness campaign about the seriousness of drug addiction. We need to involve the medical community about the prescriptions that really need to be cut back," Polito said in an earlier interview.
There were 978 opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts last year, a 46 percent increase over the previous year.
