As previously noted, we recently spoke with Berkshire County District Attorney, Andrea Harrington. In the interview she covered an array of topics and issues facing the Berkshires. One of the topics we covered was a pilot program - Service Emotional Learning for Elementary Students. This program is part of Harrington s office s Juvenile Justice Initiative.
Harrington described the initiative along with the pilot program
Our goal is to keep kids out of the justice system but more importantly to give young people the tools that they need to thrive and be successful here in our community. Early on in my term, we visited Conte school and we spoke with the principal and met with the PTO
In a recent interview with Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington, many topics were covered including a new report released by the Department of Public Health which found a sharp uptick in fatal drug overdoses across the state. According to Harrington, there was a 5% increase in 2020 across the commonwealth but in Berkshire County there was a staggering increase of 44%. Harrington said that in 2019, Berkshire County had 39 fatal overdoses and 56 in 2020.
Does the pandemic play a role in that sharp increase?
Harrington said the following (paraphrased):
Consulting with the Brien Center the answer is yes. The uptick is due to the stress of the pandemic and an interruption in people s normal community and support of mental health. People are very isolated and more people are using alone which is very dangerous.
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