Juneteenth, Opiate Crisis in Our Courts, Big Endorsements, and More!
For Juneteenth, we not only celebrate the freedom all Americans are guaranteed under our Constitution, we remember where we came from, and resolve to work hard to live up to our ideals by putting an end to racial and social injustice. I was honored to join Juneteenth celebrations in Woburn and Brookline, and struck anew by the force our younger voters represent. Look out world, they are coming on fast and they will not settle for injustice.
The campaign is moving very quickly, with more endorsements all the time, and we will announce them very soon. This week, I'm proud to announce that Senator Cindy Friedman (D-Arlington) is endorsing me. The people you trust, trust me. Click HERE to read more on Senator Friedman’s endorsement.
One of the reasons I am so proud to have Senator Friedman’s endorsement is her work spearheading the Opiate Bill, which supports recovery over incarceration. I was very fortunate to join the recovery community at the Celebrate Recovery Wiffle Ball Tournament in Billerica. Tragically, opiate overdoses and deaths in Massachusetts rose 9% last year, to a record high. It’s not getting better, it’s getting worse. Yet the enormous role our court system plays in the opiate crisis is often overlooked. I’ve seen more folks taken into custody for relapse than I can count. It’s wrong, it’s expensive, it doesn’t help, and it can often make recovery harder, especially for people on methadone maintenance. Not all prisons in Massachusetts provide methadone, even though it is one of the WHO’s essential medications. Methadone withdrawal is extremely painful and traumatic, and makes recovery much harder. Massachusetts recently settled a lawsuit against the Trial Courts brought because some judges in our drug courts were ordering people who appeared before them to not to use certain medications, like Vivitrol and Suboxone, even when prescribed by their doctor. We must be certain that all our judges respect the science of addiction and work to support recovery. These issues are deeply personal to me as my sister suffered from an alcohol use disorder and passed away almost two years ago. I know what the families and loves ones of those who suffer from a substance use disorder go through. Many folks who need recovery wind up in our court system, which impacts their families and loved ones too. We must do everything we can to help those folks, and that starts with making sure our judges are ready, willing, and able to do what we know works to support recovery.
I am so proud to have the support of the IBEW Local 103! Growing up in a union household as the daughter of a teacher and a librarian, I was raised to always stand strong for labor -- and I always will. Will be announcing more outstanding endorsements from organized labor very soon!
I’m going all over the district, from Billerica and Marlborough, to Arlington, Brookline, Waltham, and Woburn. Frankly, from meeting with voters it’s pretty clear that if everyone knows about this campaign we will win handily. People are stepping up, hosting house parties, helping to spread the word, and telling their friends and neighbors. We’re having house parties both in person and on zoom. If you’d like to join one already set up or to host one of your own, please write to me at Mara@MaraDolan.com. We’d love to see you!
To those who have contributed, I can’t thank you enough! If you haven’t made a contribution yet, please know that your contribution will go a long way. Please go to MaraDolan.com to donate via ActBlue or Venmo. Thank you, everyone!
Take care,
Mara
