Elks event details how Narcan reverses overdoses

Saugus-Everett Elks Drug Awareness Committee · Meeting of June 15, 2026

SAUGUS — Everett outreach workers told a Saugus-Everett Elks Drug Awareness Committee audience that statewide fatal overdoses fell from about 2,400 in 2024 to 970 in 2025. Paul Guarino, an Everett Fire Department outreach worker and pharmacist with 13 years in recovery, said Narcan's wider availability and prevention outreach drove the decline, while warning fentanyl can cause an overdose "within a couple seconds to a minute compared to a regular opioid overdose, which might take up to an hour." Eric Mazio, Everett's assistant director of youth substance use prevention, described his school-based outreach to roughly 150 campers and students citywide. Guarino said Everett Fire Department crews are seeing a rise in mental-health-related calls even as overdose calls decline, calling it "the new uptake out there." Both speakers, who said they remain in long-term recovery, stayed afterward to answer questions and distribute Narcan to attendees.

In the full story:

• Introduction: An Awareness Presentation, Not a Business Meeting
• Eric Mazio's Recovery Story and Youth Prevention Work
• Paul Guarino's Professional Background and Outreach Role
• Overdose Data and Rising Mental Health Calls
• Recognizing an Overdose and Administering Narcan
• Stigma, Community Response and Closing Remarks
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,062 words

Source: the Saugus-Everett Elks Drug Awareness Committee meeting of June 15, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.