S.A.F.E. Coalition Welcomes Potee, Plans Fundraisers

On Thursday, March 16, the S.A.F.E. Coalition continued its Community Conversation series at the Franklin High School auditorium, welcoming Dr. Ruth Potee, nationally recognized expert on addiction. Potee discussed the physiology of addiction on the adolescent brain, explaining to the audience how introduction of alcohol or drugs before the age of 21, on a developing brain, increases the likelihood that a person will have a substance abuse disorder. She also discussed the effect of various substances on serotonin and dopamine levels in the body, and how someone who is addicted feels a drop in those levels following a rise, and thus craves the substance. Potee argued for the destigmatizing of treatment for those with substance abuse disorder, pointing out differences in emergent care for an addict in a life-threatening situation versus a cardiac patient in a life-threatening situation. The latter, she says, receives a high level sometimes costly level of care, but that cardiac patient, she says, may also have landed in the emergency room due to a series of health-altering decisions.
The S.A.F.E. Coalition is working on two springtime fundraisers for the organization.
The Franklin High School Peer to Peer Group associated with the S.A.F.E. Coalition is pleased to announce its 1st Annual 5K Race for Recovery. The race has been organized by Franklin High School students to promote hope, healing, and awareness for those living with Substance Use Disorder. It will take place in Franklin at 8 a.m. on Sunday, May 7, 2017. For more information, to register or to volunteer, visit https://www.raceentry.com/race-reviews/race-for-recovery or contact Jennifer Knight at [email protected].
May also marks the 2nd Annual S.A.F.E. Golf Tournament, to be held at the Franklin Country Club on Monday, May 22, 2017 at 8 am. Registration will be $160 per person or $640 for a foursome. All proceeds from this event benefit the programs of the S.A.F.E. Coalition of MA. Sponsors may register at: safecoalitionma.com/GOLF2/Sponsor/. Golfers may register at: safecoalitionma.com/ GOLF2/.