Rep. Haines Attends Governor’s Prevention Partnership Press Conference on October 30th

On Monday, I joined local leaders and advocates at the State Capitol for the Governor’s Prevention Partnership Press Conference, to support the “Prevention Starts with You,” campaign. This campaign is a multi-prong approach to combating youth substance abuse by encouraging the safe disposal of expired medications at home. Connecticut’s Senate Delegation was able to secure $1.2 million in federal funding to purchase 50,000 Deterra Drug Deactivation System pouches, that will be distributed in the Greater Hartford and New Haven areas in Connecticut. The hope is to roll this project out across our state to serve as an additional tool to removing pills from circulation and help stopping drug overdoses, which kills thousands nationally each year.

These pouches are a safe and easy way to deactivate chemical compounds and promote a safe way to dispose of potentially dangerous drugs at home. During my time in the legislature, I have supported many proposals to help our first responders be prepared to deal with overdoses, and this campaign will be an important additional step in keeping these drugs out of the hands of our youth. As a former business liaison to the East Haddam Prevention Council where I continually advocated for increased safety measures to help prevent overdoses locally; campaigns like this are very important to me.

I want to thank Hannah Granfield-Horton, the director of the Governor’s Prevention Partnership for including me in today’s event.

For more, visit www.PreventionCT.org