OPEN (Overdose Prevention and Education Network) is working with the community to reduce the number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses in Cambridge and across the state. Examples of opioids include heroin, methadone, and many prescription pain killers. A risk associated with opioid use is overdose, which can lead to serious health effects including death. In Massachusetts, there were 637 opioid related deaths in 2006. In Cambridge, there were over 50 calls to 911 involving opioid overdoses in 20007. But you can help change this!

OPEN provides information on how to reduce the chances of an overdose. For basic information on preventing an overdose, click here

Agencies can contact OPEN to:

• Schedule a workshop for your group
• Access overdose education and prevention resources
• Receive technical assistance to incorporate overdose prevention into your work

The community can contact OPEN to:

• Talk with an educator to get resources and confidential support to prevent and respond to overdoses
• Attend OPEN’s Community Drop-In to get information and discuss issues important to you
  The second Monday of every month
  5:00pm-7:00pm
  119 Windsor Street, Cambridge

OPEN is always seeking community members who might have a personal connection to this cause, so they can help make parents, siblings, partners, and family, and friends of people struggling with substance use aware of the workshops and information that the OPEN project offers. The OPEN project wants everyone to have all the facts they need to understand overdose, and to empower them to be able to respond to one.

If you would like to host or be a participant in an educational workshop,
or if you would like to help spread the word about the OPEN project,
please contact:
Mary Amato, Project Coordinator at mamato@cambridgema.gov or (617) 349-6346

Click here for more information about overdose prevention:
http://www.harmreduction.org/article.php?list=type&type=51

Click here for information about substance use services in Massachusetts, including drug treatment:
www.helpline-online.com

Click here to see more information from a partnering program :
http://opioidoverdoseprevention.org/