JUNEAU POLICE DEPARTMENT
6255 ALAWAY AVENUE JUNEAU, ALASKA 99801
Business (907) 586-0600
Fax (907) 463-4808
Integrity, Courage, Service, Respect
INFORMATION RELEASE
Date: 2016-03-22
From: Lt. Kris Sell
Case or Incident: #N/A
INFORMATION RELEASE
On April 2, 2016, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. there will be a community rally to take a stand against heroin and show support for people in recovery and those wanting to be in recovery. The event is being co-hosted by the Alaska Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and the Juneau Police Department.
The gathering will take place at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center next door to Centennial Hall. There will be live music and food vendors on site. There will be people staffing tables to explain heroin addiction and treatment options. There will also be people there who can talk with those people in our community who have lost a loved one or watched a loved one struggle with a heroin addiction. The people staffing the ?Family? table have had that same experience.
Someone from Capital City Fire and Rescue will provide information about an over the counter drug that can help someone having an overdose. Crime Line will be providing sharps containers for people who want to safely dispose of needles that are being found in neighborhoods and recreational areas.
While education and support are two of the goals of the event, the other goal is to publicly show heroin addicts that the community as a whole wants them to get better and stop using the drug. Many active users feel very hopeless, believing that they have ruined their lives and hurt so many people that no one cares if they use heroin and even overdose. In order to embrace the hard work of recovery, users have to have hope. The Hope Not Heroin rally is to encourage people to take the first step toward defeating heroin, and that step is to have hope.
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All factual allegations contained in this release are based upon preliminary investigation and are subject to change or clarification as the investigation continues. Any charges reported in this release are merely accusations and all persons named in this release are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.