001to see you all uh thanks Kristen for organizing this event um a rather solemn event because um we're here I wouldn't say celebrating but at least acknowledging uh the impact of overdoses and substance use disorder here in our lives and in the lives of our friends and family um I believe later we're going to be planting 2,000 over 2100 Flags which represent a victim an overdose victim over the past year here in Massachusetts and for each flag that is planted that represents not just that overdose victim but a family Somebody's Mother Somebody's Daughter somebody's sister somebody's father brother son again it has an impact well beyond the person who breathes their last breath once they do that overdose again all of you at least here I know have been touched by this it's both personally
002and professionally and so I appreciate the work that you do uh not just today when we're acknowledging these events on special days but but every day and uh I want to thank you for being here I believe uh next we have a chief rosson he's going to say a few words um so the ashon police department has to look at substance use disorder and overdoses a little bit different than most um um we have committed to being a resource for those that are suffering from substance disorder and the people that love them so we do have ksten here she is ksten k um our clinician who's available she's tenacious she's steadfast in her commitment um as an Ashland resident as a parent to the most vulnerable members of our Society uh but we also have
003to look at law enforcement and trying to stem the tide of these substances the deadly fentanyl from getting into our community uh Michael actually brought to my attention this week how we really didn't publicize enough I don't think the work that we do as part of the Metro Dr task force and operation Autobon was the biggest in recent Massachusetts history fentanyl bust and it happened last year and Ashland is part of the Metro drug task force this is a multi-million dollar ring multi-layered all the way across the East Coast New York City down through Ashland and the amount of fentanyl that was coming into our communities on a daily basis was mindboggling the the whole operation stemmed from one anonymous tip from an Ashland resident that was seeing what she thought was a drug deal
004happening continuously in her neighborhood through the it's called operation autobond because they had cars that I've never even heard of the ones where the doors go up and down you know fancy 250,000 million doll cars but Lamborghini Lamborghini thanks ly yep yes we're we're not only here to support people who are suffering from substance use disorder we are equally although we don't talk about it we are equally trying to enforce the laws and keep these substances out of our community so we will continue working Kon does a great job um we work with our partners in public safety Lynn the fire department is always there um trying to make Nan available what our human services department does on a day-to-day basis to support the residents that need assistance is humbling so we'll just continue the
005fight year after year thank you thanks chief chief ly yeah so I just would like to reiterate what Chief Rossy said but on behalf of Chief Roby and the members of the ashon fire department were very proud to join in with our partners like Kristen and her team uh Board of Health Chief Rossy and her team and the town manager and his team to be able to uh sponsor this this great event here at the public safety building but I think that individually each one of us can accomplish quite a lot but together we can we can accomplish so much more so together so we're going to fight this fight and uh we're really proud to be part of this thank you so hi um I'm Christen French I am the director of prevention and
006Human Services for the town of Ashland so um this is the second year in a row that Ashland has recognized International overdose awareness day uh last year we did it at the Ashen farmers market and we had a lovely turnout and we planted um one flag for every 10 overdoses so we planted about 200 flags and this year we thought that we would um try to expand that effort and or really represent um the loss that Massachusetts faced over the last year so we are planting 2,125 Flags um to represent each of the lives lost in 2023 and I think what is most amazing about um these sorts of recognitions is when the community comes out and really takes part of it so this is something that we'll be doing um every August it's really
007important to us to our department and to our community yeah like I said A A friend of mine lost a child lost a son uh to fentol U accidental overd um he was a real good kid you know and I he worked on my house and and I knew him briefly but out of respect for him and his father I decided to come down and plant some Flags you know in remembrance of him and uh you know it's a good it's good cause it's important for people to wake up to the fact that it it wasn't like it was when I was a kid you know uh back in the 60s and the 70s drugs were more recreational today they're quite deadly and uh you can make them mistake you can make one mistake and
008that'll be it and a lot of people just don't realize that it's so it's important to bring this to people's awareness um and they'll can't miss these flags as they drive by ask a question and it keeps in everybody's Consciousness and it helps to at least fight the problem hopefully solve the problem someday so anyways that's why I'm here