A Special Legislative Commission on Behavioral Health Promotion and Upstream Prevention in Massachusetts
State Representative, 4th Plymouth District, House Chair, Promote Prevent Commission
Jim is a Marshfield native and life-long resident of the South Shore.
Jim’s passion for public service was sparked a quarter century ago while a sophomore at Marshfield High School. Alarmed at reports of water contamination near his Webster Street neighborhood, he joined a grassroots effort to force a developer to remove piping lined with cancer-causing TCE chemicals.
As an Assistant District Attorney, Jim was an original co-coordinator of the Norfolk County Juvenile Justice Unit, a new model program that prosecutes the most dangerous youthful offenders as adults, while working to prevent juvenile crime through a partnership with school, police and community organizations. In his three years as an Assistant D.A. Jim also served as a lead prosecutor in the nationally recognized Domestic Violence Prevention program. He has been appointed a Special Prosecutor for Suffolk County twice.
In recent years, Rep. Cantwell has worked closely with Scituate’s drug free communities coalition, ScituateFACTS, and he helped cofound MarshfieldFACTS with his wife, Jen Tucker Cantwell. He is the sponsor or cosponsor of multiple pieces of substance abuse legislation including An Act promoting substance abuse prevention through positive social norms marketing. He also joint-sponsored An Act relative to responsible stewardship by drug manufactures with lead sponsor Senator Keenan which was included in the 2016 Substance Abuse Treatment, Education and Prevention Act. In the 2015, 2016, and 2017 State Budgets, Rep. Cantwell fought to secure funding for substance abuse prevention, including a total of $300,000 for INTERFACE referral service and 100,000 for recovery coaching in Plymouth County. During the 2015-2016 session, Jim served on the powerful House Ways and Means and the Joint Committees on Public Safety and Homeland Security, Financial Services, and Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources. Jim holds a J.D. from Boston College.