Around Town

Improbable Players Presenting Play on Opioid Addiction at Mosesian Center

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Watertown-based Improbable Players will be presenting a show at the Mosesian Center for the Arts showing how people got started using opioids. The Improbable Players provided the following information:

Improbable Players Presents: A Re-Staging of End of the Line on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. at The MainStage in The Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown, MA 02472 (Getting to the MCA). For tickets click here https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/999504

Program contains talk of drug use. In 2014 Improbable Players created a theatre piece to show how people got started with opioids.

Around Town

Watertown Group Hosting Showing, Discussion of Movie About the Opioid Epidemic

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The W.A.T.E.R.T.O.W.N Task Force for Substance Use Disorder will host a screening of the  Oscar Nominated Documentary Heroin(e). 

The Task Force sent out the following information:

Screening & Discussion

WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

WHERE: Watertown Free Public Library, 123 Main Street, Watertown

The W.A.T.E.R.T.O.W.N Task Force for Substance Use Disorder, along with Police and Fire departments, are taking a proactive role in education, prevention, and treatment of people and their families affected by substance use. Members will be on hand to describe initiatives. Heroin(e), a Netflix original film, depicts a rarely seen side of the national opioid epidemic: Hope. The 39-minute documentary follows three dedicated women — a fire chief, a judge, and a street minister — as they work to support residents of a Virginia town who are struggling with substance use.

Around Town

Watertown Addiction Recovery Center Has Creative Approach to Getting Sober

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An addiction recovery center that started as a place for rock musicians to get sober has moved to Watertown and found success in treatment that includes art and music in the therapy. Right Turn, located on Arsenal Street, began in 2003 when Woody Giessmann – former drummer of The Del Fuegos – realized there was a need for recovery for musicians and other creative people. The center’s first offices were located in Arlington, but moved to Watertown a few years ago when it needed more space. In 1993 Giessmann became an addictions specialist after facing drug and alcohol addictions while he was a musician, said Gabrielle “Abby” Dean, clinical director for Right Turn, who has been working with Giessmann since 1995

“Musicians kept calling him saying ‘I need help,'” Dean said. Enough musicians or their agents called, Dean said, and they decided to start groups for people looking to get sober.

Around Town

The Impact of the Opioid Crisis Discussed on Latest Episode of Inside Watertown

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The most recent episode of Inside Watertown focuses on the opioid crisis in Watertown, what is being done to slow it and where people can turn for help. Lt. Daniel Unsworth from the Watertown Police Department and Pete Airasian, one of the founders of Watertown Against Addiction, spoke with hosts Paul Airasian and Charlie Breitrose about how opioids have increased in town and efforts to curb the influx locally. They also covered ways people can seek treatment for opioid use and other drugs and alcohol. Watch the episode in January on Watertown Cable’s Public Channel on the following days times: Sundays at 8 p.m., Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m., Thursdays at 10 a.m. and Fridays at 9 p.m.

Or, watch anytime on the WCATV website by clicking here: http://watertown.vod.castus.tv/vod/?video=d3bb4910-ad99-465d-bafd-86cafd006c01&nav=programs/Inside%20Watertown

Around Town

Drop-in Substance Use Recovery Resource Night Coming to Watertown

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A resource night will be held for those seeking information on recovery from substance use. The event is hosted by W.A.T.E.R.town (Watertown Access to Treatment, Education, and Resources) Substance Use Disorder Task Force, in collaboration with Metro-Boston Project Outreach. The program is partially funded by the
Watertown Community Foundation. The group sent out the following information:

Join us for non-judgmental conversations with a wide variety of support & treatment providers

• Learn about community resources & treatment providers

• Meet representatives from recovery centers

• Find out about free support groups

•Free Narcan and Narcan training available

It will be held Wednesday, January 10, 2018 from 5-8 p.m. at the Watertown Free Public Library, 123 Main Street, Watertown. All are welcome

Childcare will be provided and there will be activities for kids. Light refreshments will be served

For more information:

Website: watertown-cares.com
Email: watertown.ma.cares@gmail.com
Phone: 617-972-6446

Police/Fire

Watertown Police Arrest Major Drug Dealer After Long Investigation

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Watertown Police, working with the Suburban Middlesex County Drug Task Force, arrested a 39-year-old town resident suspected of dealing narcotics in the area. 

The Watertown Police Detective Division executed a search warrant at 44C Robert Ford Road on Nov. 15, 2017, and discovered narcotics, cash, a firearm, ammunition and brass knuckles, according to Watertown Police Lt. James O’Connor. The arrest of Jason Alberto Dalencar, 39, of Watertown was the result of a six-month investigation. “Jason Dalencar was believed to be a major supplier of narcotics in Watertown,
Waltham, and Newton,” O’Connor said. The narcotics are the prescription opioid oxycodone.

Around Town

Candlelight Vigil Remembers Those Lost to Substance Use, Supports Those Recovering

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For the third straight year, a group trying to end the plague of opioid addiction held a candlelight vigil for the family and friends of those who have lost people to their substance use including several more Watertown residents who died this year. Pete Airasian, a recovering addict who helped start Watertown Overcoming Addiction with Wendy Clark Morrissey (who lost her brother to opioids), said he was grateful for the big crowd in the lower hall at St. Patrick’s Church Wednesday night. The losses, however, are tough. “It is sad, but they always say it gets worse before it gets better,” Airasian said.

Around Town

Watertown Group Hosting Candlelight Vigil for Those Lost to Substance Use

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Watertown will hold a candlelight vigil for those who have lost a loved one or know someone who has lost someone to substance use. 

The group organizing the vigil sent out the following announcement:

The 3rd Annual Watertown Overcoming Addiction Candlelight Vigil will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church (Lower Hall). The church is located on Main Street at Chestnut Street. If you have a loved one or know someone who has a loved one that was lost to substance use disorder please come show your support, help erase the stigma and show that their lives mattered and they will never be forgotten.