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Oct. 16 forum to raise awareness about heroin addiction

10.22.14

October 13, 2014

Story by: Jennie Grey

Featured in: Saratogian

Link to article can be found here: http://www.saratogian.com/general-news/20141013/oct-16-forum-to-raise-awareness-about-heroin-addiction

SARATOGA SPRINGS >> In response to the growing problem of heroin use by local teens and adults, the Prevention Council of Saratoga County is offering a community forum about heroin addiction in partnership with Saratoga Springs Public Library and Recovery Advocacy in Saratoga, a recently formed community organization.

The forum will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, in the H. Dutcher Community Room at Saratoga Springs Public Library at 49 Henry St.

The forum will assemble a panel of people from Saratoga, including individuals in addiction recovery, law enforcement, physicians, prevention professionals and concerned families, to raise awareness of the rise in heroin use in the community.

Prevention Council Media and Marketing Specialist LeeAnn Mandrillo explained that heroin is a multifaceted problem.

“Heroin is like a hydra, the mythological beast with the many heads,” she said. “You cut one head off, and two grow back. The toll it takes is frightening.”

According to New York’s Combat Heroin campaign, heroin and opioid abuse have become a serious problem in communities across New York state and the nation. In 2013, there were 89,269 admissions for heroin and prescription opioid abuse treatment in New York state alone, an increase from 63,793 in 2004.

During this same time period, New Yorkers ages 18 to 24 had the largest increase in such admissions. Nationally, nearly a half-million people were reportedly abusing heroin or suffering from heroin dependence in 2012.

In December 2013, 17-year-old Daniel Lewis of Clifton Park was charged with injecting a 15-year-old with heroin at Shenendehowa High School. The incident was the first reported case of heroin use in any Saratoga County school district.

“Heroin is a growing problem that knows no demographic and does not discriminate,” Prevention Council Executive Director Janine Stuchin said. “We know it is related to the abuse of prescription opioid pain medication, where users are switching to heroin because it is cheaper and often more available. We also know the best solutions for prevention in our community are developed from the grass roots up.”

Mandrillo said one key solution to the problem was education. She encouraged people to become knowledgeable about the signs of heroin use and to communicate to others, especially adolescents, the dangers of addiction.

“We should lock our medicine cabinets and dispose of unwanted medications on Drug Take Back Day,” she said. “Parents should speak with their children about alcohol and drug use as early as middle school. Those conversations are really important. We need to talk with rather than at our kids.”

The panel will discuss the heroin crisis, including information about addiction as a disease that requires medical intervention, long-term recovery, the scope of the problem in Saratoga County, available local resources and what the community can do to reduce and prevent substance abuse.

“Tools like this forum open up critical conversations,” Mandrillo said. “We may feel sheltered here upstate, thinking we don’t have the drug issues of the large metropolitan areas — and these programs help us really educate ourselves. We can change public health by how we talk to one another.”

More information about the Combat Heroin campaign can be found at combatheroin.ny.gov/prevention.

 

Community Forum on Heroin Addiction

10.16.14

This forum brings Saratoga together as a community to discuss heroin addiction and its impact. The forum will feature a panel of speakers whom will share information about:

  • The scope of Saratoga Counties heroin problem
  • Local Resources available to solve the problem
  • Addiction and medical interventions
  • Prevention and reduction of substance abuse
  • Long-term recovery

Join parents, physicians, law enforcement officers, those in recovery, treatment professionals and prevention specialists in addressing heroin in our community.

No Community Has Immunity from Heroin

04.14.14

Heroin: No Community Has Immunity

Photo: MarkBolles.com

Story by Arthur Gonick, Saratoga Today NewspaperSARATOGA SPRINGS— We tend to wax romantic about our community. And in truth, compared to other communities, we are relatively safe. As such, we sometimes fall into an illusion that we are insulated from the worst of society’s ills.

But at street level, there’s no such illusion. This is the reality Sergeant Tim Sicko and the Saratoga Springs Police Investigation Division sees:

“Just in the last four to five months, we’ve seen over a half-dozen overdoses from heroin.” He said. Moreover, “the number of heroin buys my (undercover) officers make have risen significantly over the past two and one-half years I’ve been in charge of the division.” The Investigation Division oversees both the drug and criminal units.

When asked to estimate the percentage, Sergeant Sicko commented. “Undercover buys of heroin were maybe 2 out of 100 just a couple of years ago, when we saw mostly crack cocaine and pills on the street. Today, I would estimate it’s closer to 50 percent.” He said.

The Prevention Council of Saratoga confirms that a significant uptick in heroin usage in this community has occurred, as part of a nationwide trend. Executive Director Janine Stuchin noted:

“No one starts off on heroin. National and local studies have shown that the recent upsurge in heroin use is directly connected with prescription pain killer (opiate) abuse.”

The purpose of this article is not to sensationalize or unduly alarm, but to educate and advocate that if your head is in the sand about heroin in Saratoga County and you are thinking “it can’t happen here,” take a look around.

“It” already is happening.

And while no one will purport that Saratoga County has as bad a problem as some of the larger and more urban cities, to deny the insidious presence of this most insidious of drugs would be irresponsible.

Both Ms. Stuchin and Sgt. Sicko cite the relative inexpensiveness of heroin as a factor in its recent rise in usage. “Heroin is less expensive than illicit prescription pain killers such as oxycodone, explaining the trend toward increased heroin use.” Ms. Stuchin noted. Sgt. Sicko also noted the “difficult, painful withdrawal process” that is involved from heroin once addicted that will naturally keep people looking for their next fix.

Compounding this is the phenomenon of the “chase after the initial high,” as Sgt. Sicko put it, which would lead a user who might have started snorting heroin to graduate to a needle for a greater effect.

Finally, you have the factor that, according to any study, the profile of the heroin user is younger than ever. “One of the recent overdoses we had was someone in their 20s,” Sgt. Sicko noted, “fortunately, he was not a fatality.”

For the user, Sgt. Sicko noted that a factor compounding the danger of heroin are the other substances that are lacing it; substances which can be even more lethal than the heroin itself. “You don’t know what you are accepting or where it came from.” Sgt. Sicko noted. “In contrast, you can look at a given pill and if you are savvy, recognize the manufacturer – although this is not foolproof.”

Heroin dealers attempt to mitigate this by engaging in a “branding” exercise: Labeling their nickel or dime bags with a logo or markings that would tend to inspire a false sense of confidence – I’ve bought this before, it’s OK – yet, Sergeant Sicko rightly points out that the street dealer has little knowledge of where today’s batch came from, if they were inclined to care in the first place.

He spread an array of evidence bags before us and my eyes kept going to one dealer’s mark.

All I could think of was: How desperate would you have to be to shoot up from a bag that is marked “Game Over.”?

But is the game over? Hardly.

“We have a number of full-time people who are on top of this daily,” Sgt. Sicko notes, “you’re seeing a significant increase in heroin arrests because our people, working with other law enforcement divisions such as the State Police, as well as a network of informants, are battling this daily and we have no intention of pulling back.”

“We are nowhere near the level of activity of other cities precisely because we are fortunate to have a group of young officers who are dedicated and on top of things… when a dealer comes to town to set up shop, we usually know who that person is already,” he continued. “But it’s a matter of constant vigilance.”

In that connection, Sgt. Sicko noted that while the profile of the heroin user the police are has gotten younger, this is not a major problem at either the High School (where he lauded the work of Officer Lloyd Davis who is stationed there), or on the Skidmore campus at this point.

The Prevention Council confirms this, to some extent. “Our data from student surveys in Saratoga County show about eight percent of high school students are involved in prescription drug abuse and one percent reporting using heroin,” noted Janine Stuchin.

Any law enforcement officer would acknowledge that even with a consistent focus on interdicting heroin supply, long-term effectiveness of any effort is dependent upon programs that educate and impact on demand. Sgt. Sicko, while acknowledging that the restoration of D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) funding in the city is something on his “wish list,” cites that the education programs provided by the Prevention Council are invaluable.

“The role of the Prevention Council in addressing the scourge of heroin in our community is to be preventive rather than reactive.” Ms. Stuchin said. We do this though programs, like Too Good for Drugs, taught in many local school districts, which educate children on the inherent dangers.”

“We regularly collaborate with law enforcement with drug take-back days. For instance, the next National Prescription Take-Back Day will be Saturday, April 26 and we will be announcing local sites that will be participating.”

But both the police and Prevention Council note that the real education and greatest impact is an outgrowth of effective parenting. “Parents should not be afraid to talk to their kids and find out ‘what do you know about this stuff?’ Look at who they are hanging out with and take note of changes in behavior and appearance, for instance.” Sgt. Sicko says.

While it would be nice to have an ending here, in fact this is a story about the process of progress, the ebb and flow of societal struggles and responses; perhaps a battle that will never be won, but nonetheless a battle worth undertaking daily.

Alarm Over Heroin Case

12.13.13

CLIFTON PARK – A report accusing a student of injecting another with heroin at the region’s largest suburban school district set off bouts of hand-wringing Friday over the pervasiveness of the highly addictive drug.

A Shenendehowa student, identified byState Police as Daniel Lewis, 17, allegedly shot up a 15-year-old classmate with a liquid form of heroin in the high school boy’s locker room about 11:30 a.m. Thursday while classes were in session, Superintendent L. Oliver Robinsonsaid. A third student alerted district officials to suspicious activity.

“It wasn’t a forced injection,” State Police Public Information Officer Mark Cepiel said.

Troopers responded to the school on Route 146 and investigated the complaint. They said they found Lewis of Clifton Park in possession of heroin and hypodermic needles. They charged the teen with a felony count of criminal injection of a narcotic drug, misdemeanor drug possession, child endangerment and possession of hypodermic needles.

At a news conference in the district’s office Friday, Robinson called the allegations “particularly alarming.” He said the male students had arranged to meet during physical education class. He characterized it as an isolated incident.

“This is the first reported case of heroin use at Shen,” Robinson said.

But the arrest of a senior for allegedly supplying a sophomore with heroin inside the large southern Saratoga County school during class hours sparked discussions among police, parents and public health officials. The cheap price of heroin makes it increasingly attractive for the young, Cepiel said.

“Heroin use, we have found, unfortunately, is on the upswing in the Capital District, and that does include high school children,” Cepiel said. “It is, in some cases, cheaper than marijuana.”

The 15-year-old was not charged, but that could change, Cepiel said.

Janine Stuchin, executive director of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Council, said heroin use among high schoolers was rare and not on the rise. A Prevention Council survey of 6,193 students at eight high schools in Saratoga County, including Shenendehowa, between 2010 and 2013 showed only one percent had used heroin within the past 30 days. That figure matches national statistics, Stuchin said. “It’s not rampant; it’s rare,” she said. “Our data is very consistent. It has not shown a trending upward.”

Prescription narcotic use has risen, however, and that can lead to heroin abuse because a heroin high costs about $10 compared to $60 for prescription drugs, Stuchin said. “We really need to talk about the heroin problem in the context of the prescription drug problem,” she said. “It’s cheaper and easier to buy.”

Six percent of high school students in the county reported using over-the-counter opiates in the past month, while 21 percent admitted using marijuana and 34 percent, alcohol, according to Prevention Council.

The arrest of Lewis at Shenendehowa Thursday occurred after a report was made to school officials by a third student who observed what looked like an exchange of pills between Lewis and the 15-year-old, Robinson said. The district alerted police after one student admitted being under the influence of heroin, the superintendent said. The case marked the first involving heroin in a county school and the first intentional injection of the drug, county District Attorney James A. Murphy III said.

The students involved were checked by a school nurse before being questioned by police, Robinson said. “We found the actual injection did occur,” he said. The district employs hall monitors and surveillance cameras. “I think we have many reasonable precautions, however, each time an incident occurs, it’s an opportunity to reflect,” Robinson said.

Lewis was arraigned before town Justice Robert Rybak. He was taken to the county jail on $2,500 bail and he remained incarcerated Friday afternoon.

Lewis is due back in court Thursday. He faces an extended suspension from school if found guilty. He had no prior criminal history with the State Police, Cepiel said. The trooper said no pills were found by police during their investigation.

About 3,200 students attend Shenendehowa High School.

Sally Vanderzee, president of the Shenendehowa Parent Teacher Student Association, said she was shocked by the allegations. She said parents need to communicate with their children about the dangers of drugs and importance of making good decisions.

“This is a wake-up call for all parents,” Vanderzee said.

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