Congressman Neal Hosts Heroin Documentary, Panel Discussion
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal is hosting a screening of the HBO documentary "Heroin: Cape Cod USA" at Berkshire Community College on Tuesday.
Neal is joined in the event by Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer; North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright; Berkshire County Sheriff Thomas Bowler and Berkshire County District Attorney David Capeless.
The showing in the Koussevitzky Arts Center is free and open to the public. The event begins at 5 p.m. with brief remarks; a panel discussion about current efforts to reduce the drug problem in Berkshire County will follow the 77-minute film. It is expected to conclude by 7:45 p.m.
Panelists include Alcombright; Bowler; Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn; Dr. Alex Sabo of Berkshire Medical Center; Ananda Timpane, executive director of the Railroad Street Youth Project, and Chris MacBeth, CEO of The Brien Center. John Rogers, vice president and general counsel of Berkshire Health Systems, will moderate.
"Heroin: Cape Cod USA" focuses on eight young addicts on the Cape. According to the filmmakers, some 85 percent of crimes on Cape Cod are now heroin-related.
"There are very few people I met in Massachusetts who didn't have a connection to this crisis," director Steven Okazaki says on the documentary's Web page. "It has taken a very real, and wide toll in a way that I did not see 20 years ago. I think this documentary could have been made in many communities around New England and across the country."
Neal has screened the documentary twice before in January, first at the Capitol for members of the New England congressional delegation, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Michael Botticelli, and the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and the second in Springfield for Hampden County officials. A public screening is planned for Franklin and Hampshire counties in October.
Tuesday's event will be broadcast by Pittsfield Community Television.
Tags: documentary, heroin, Neal, Opioid abuse, panel,
