by Laura A. Brodin

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced July 27 the state’s Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Services has awarded the city a grant supporting efforts to prevent opiate abuse.

The grant, which is for $80,000 and will be effective between July 2004 and June 2005, will be used in various ways to prevent opiate abuse, said the mayor.

One portion of the money will go toward training 12 Somerville youths to be community educators in the area of opiate prevention, along with parents, teachers, medical personnel, and other community residents, Curtatone said.

Another portion will support Somerville’s National Night Out— an anti-drug and crime event celebrated across the country on August 2—which will take place city-wide in Somerville, with a main event at Foss Park, he said.
Additionally, money will go toward the creation of various forums which will be held throughout the grant year, he said.

The grant supplements $100,000 that the city of Somerville currently receives from the Bureau of Substance Abuse, as well as $75,000 from the Justice’s Office of Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Program, the mayor said.