The following is a reprint of a story, written by Patriot Ledger reporter Lane Lambert. BRAINTREE – Plymouth parent Tom Audette got the news of his 23-year-old daughter Jillian Audette’s heroin-overdose death in 2008 when police officers knocked on his door at 3 in the morning. Lindsay Sheehan of Marshfield went from being a straight-A student at Archbishop Williams High in Braintree to addiction and jail before she found her way to Quincy District Court’s drug court program. Those were two of the stories that a standing-room audience of hundreds heard Wednesday evening during an “Opiate Awareness Night” at Braintree Town Hall. Sponsored by the Braintree Community Youth Center and the town’s Community Partnership on Substance Abuse, it was the latest in a series of community sessions to focus on the issue. The session was held as South Shore police officers, prosecutors, elected officials and drug-treatment advocates again sound the alarm that addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers is an epidemic – one that has sent thousands from the area to hospital emergency rooms, detox centers and jail cells and killed hundreds of users. A Patriot Ledger review of death certificates on file in Quincy, Weymouth and Braintree found that 210 men and women from those three communities died of overdoses from 2009 to 2012. Of those, 14 were in Braintree. Along with Audette and Sheehan, former all-star athlete and recovering addict Kerry Breenan-White of Charlestown and several Braintree residents shared their stories of addiction and life with an addicted family member. A Braintree parent named Vicki – she didn’t give her last name – said her daughter “disappeared” at age 24 for several years with a heroin problem, only to return pregnant. Vicki now has custody of her grandchild. “She was forever changed,” Vicki said of her daughter. Breenan-White told the audience that she “had to change everything” to avoid slipping back into addiction. She even changed her cellphone number so her drug-using friends couldn’t contact her. That prompted a young woman in the audience to say, “You’re in recovery for the rest of your life.” “It’s a struggle, but it’s well worth it,” she said. When she added that she has been clean for 18 months, the audience applauded Earlier in the session, Audette the attendees to recognize that “this is not a police problem, it’s not a court problem, it’s everyone’s problem.” To the dozens of teenagers who attended with parents, he said, “If you haven’t seen it, you will.” Lane Lambert may be reached at llambert@ledger. Follow him on Twitter @LLambert_Ledger. patriotledger/article/20141204/NEWS/141208416
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 12:00:30 +0000
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