GREENFIELD — Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of about $300,000 for the local Opioid Task Force in this year’s Franklin County Sheriff’s Department budget has been overriden by the state Legislature, ensuring the organization’s work to battle addiction can continue for at least another year.
Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, who along with other members of the local delegation called for the override soon after Baker vetoed the line item, said the override passed the House 127 – 29. The Senate also passed the override Sunday. This weekend was the deadline to get it done.
“I think it was a mistake for the Governor to veto it to begin with,” said Mark of the override Sunday.
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg in a statement said the Task Force has shown that “the most effective way to address the scourge of opiate addiction is on all fronts.
“By restoring these funds, we can ensure that not only will our region benefit, we will provide an example of an effective program for regions across the Commonwealth and across the nation,” Rosenberg continued.
The Task Force, a collaborative effort among the Sheriff’s Department, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office and the local courts, launched in 2013 to address addiction and overdose deaths regionally. It includes members of law enforcement, health care professionals, local legislators, social service agencies, educational institutions and members of the recovery community.
Baker this year cut all funding from the budget for the program, which he said was “not recommended,” amid an unexpected drop in state revenues.
The cut came as a shock to many local officials, legislators, and area residents. The money that goes to the Task Force has been used in the past to bolster development of new substance abuse education curricula in local schools, youth work programs, community policing programs, grant writing assistance for other local groups, expanding Narcan availability and training, and local substance abuse conferences among other initiatives as the opioid and heroin addiction crisis continues to deepen.
Nearly 1,500 people died from overdoses related to opioid drugs in 2015, according to the most recent state data, while Narcan — the lifesaving overdose reversal drug — has been deployed an estimated 12,982 times in 2015 by first responders, according to the state health department.
“All of us in the Franklin County delegation made a pitch to get this restored,” Mark said. “I was at the (Democratic National) Convention and bugging Speaker (Robert) DeLeo about it the whole time, (Rep.) Steve Kulik in his position on Ways and Means was making a lot of noise there, and even Rep. (Susannah) Whipps-Lee was making a lot of noise on the Republican side. It’s a great example of our delegation working together on this; it’s really important funding and to have it zeroed out would have been horrendous.”
Both Whipps-Lee and Kulik cheered the move.
“I’m really happy this has been overridden,” said Rep. Susannah Whipps-Lee. “It’s a really important Task Force doing tremendous work in Franklin County and the North Quabbin area, and it was one of our biggest priorities as a delegation to make sure that got through.”
“By overriding Gov. Baker’s veto of funding for the Opioid Task Force, we will be able to continue the effective and groundbreaking work fighting addiction and supporting families throughout Franklin County” said Kulik in an e-mail. “There was never any question in my mind that the legislature would continue investing in this important work.”
Local officials, too, lauded the override effort.
“Once again, thanks to our legislative delegation for taking care of us and this issue,” said Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan.
Donelan said the Task Force, with new director Paul McNeil on board, looks forward to supporting and expanding the newly-opened Family Drug Court in Greenfield, the first of its kind in the state. The group also played a role in opening a new detox center in town.
“We’ll keep all this going forward and moving forward,” he said. “The recent span of overdoses that we saw shows that we still have lots of work to do; we need to be persistent.”
Three overdoses in quick succession late last week prompted the Greenfield Police Department to issue a public warning about possibly lethal batches of heroin circulating in the area, The Recorder reported, while first responders in Northfield revived an overdose victim there on Wednesday.
“I am deeply grateful to our local state legislators for their superb advocacy to ensure essential funding is available to fight our opioid crisis,” said District Attorney David E. Sullivana Task Force co-founder, in an e-mail. “The collaborative efforts of our opioid task force will continue to save lives and help families.”
Franklin Register of Probate John Merrigan said he and the other founders understand the tough economic situation facing the state, but thinks the opioid crisis must remain a priority.
“This issue knows no bounds in terms of how it’s hurting our community,” Merrigan said. “Just in the past few weeks, we’ve seen an up-tick we experience periodically, where all of a sudden have an explosion of overdoses. That makes us realize that our work is far from done.”
You can reach Tom Relihan at: 413-772-0261 ext 264
or: trelihan@recorder.com
On Twitter: @RecorderTom