A Special Legislative Commission on Behavioral Health Promotion and Upstream Prevention in Massachusetts
State Senator, Plymouth and Norfolk District.
Patrick M. O’Connor was first elected to the Massachusetts State Senate in a special election in May 2016 to represent the Plymouth & Norfolk District which is comprised of the Towns of Cohasset, Duxbury, Hingham, Hull, Marshfield, Norwell, Scituate, and Weymouth.
In 2005, at the age of 21, he decided to run for the Town Council in his hometown of Weymouth. Since then, Senator O’Connor has served the people of Weymouth, and then the South Shore, gaining a deep understanding of the issues that the worsening opioid crisis presents.
The South Shore has seen a resurgence of opioid use and overdoses in recent years. In the Plymouth and Norfolk Districts opioid deaths have doubled since 2013 and the numbers of arrests have skyrocketed as well. The Senator is of the firm belief that this constitutes a public health crisis and must be stopped.
In 2014, as the Weymouth Town Council President his first action was to create a Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee in Weymouth. This Committee helped research and implement best practices in the fight against the opioid epidemic.
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