Massachusetts Launches Campaign to Warn Parents About Opioid Abuse

Massachusetts is launching a public awareness campaign aimed at educating parents about the warning signs of opioid abuse.

Gov. Charlie Baker says the campaign begins Wednesday and will run throughout the summer on television and online. The state has also launched a new website: www.mass.gov/StopAddiction.

Baker says education is critical to fighting a surge in overdoses that claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people in the state last year.

One of the ads features Janis McGrory, of Harwich, who lost her daughter Liz at age 23 to a heroin overdose. Another ad warns that the abuse of prescription painkillers can lead to heroin addiction and overdoses.

A third, Spanish-language ad echoes the same message.

The $800,000 campaign was funded through a federal grant.