Families Shattered By Heroin, Opioid Crisis Head To Albany, Plead For Voices To Be Heard

NORTH FORK, NY — Laurel's Paul Maffetone and his mother Penny have known the worst possible heartache a family can endure — his brother and her firstborn son, Michael, 29, died of an overdose in their bathroom in 2012.

"It's the most devastating thing I have ever been through, losing my firstborn son to this horrible epidemic," Penny Maffetone has told Patch.

Maffetone's younger son Paul found his life forever impacted by his brother's death. He's made it his mission to make a difference, creating the not-for-profit organization Michael's Hope and organizing Narcan training sessions and educational forums, as well as speaking at schools to help raise awareness and save lives.

And on Tuesday, the mother and son, along with others, boarded a bus for an advocacy event organized by Families In Support Of Treatment, or FIST, and headed to Albany to create concrete change.

The group assembled had five objectives to discuss: putting an end to patient "brokering" and kickbacks for referrals, emphasizing the fact that Long Island needs a sober high school, stressing that there's a need for safe and sober recovery houses, that those prescribed opioids should also be given a prescription for Narcan, and the need on Long Island for additional recovery centers.

"We want to get these bills that we discussed today passed because we feel they are extremely important key pieces to this epidemic," Paul Maffetone said.

During the day, Maffetone met with New York State Senator Ken LaValle, New York State Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo, New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, New York State Senator Phil Boyle, and Senator Elaine Phillips.

"My experience today was humbling, to say the least," Maffetone said. "Every person I spoke with was very receptive to what I had to say. It's no secret the epidemic we are facing — and things need to be put into place through legislation to help combat this."

Leaving Albany, Maffetone said he felt empowered. "I felt like we can really make a change and that there is so much more we can and have to do — but that we are making the right steps. Almost everybody I met with today had some connection to this epidemic and everybody I went with was beyond amazing. I love my mom. I love everyone who is in this and making a difference. We can make a difference — we are losing too many to addiction."

He added, "I'm just an average guy from a little hamlet on the North Fork that wasn't going to let my brother's death be in vain. Today, I talked with senators and assemblyman in Albany about this. I can't help but feel anything but humble."

Maffetone urged others to write or call their lawmakers and make their voices heard.

To his brother, he said, "I miss you. You are always in my heart, and I will continue to try and stop other families from suffering as we have."

An escalating crisis

The crisis, however, shows no sign of abating.

Penny Maffetone said, after her own empowering day in Albany, she returned home to hear of another overdose of a young woman on the North Fork, the second in just 24 hours. She pleaded on social media for those struggling to reach out for help.

Tracey Farrell of Rocky Point, who lost her son at 26 to a heroin overdose, was also on the bus.

"We had a great day in Albany," she said. "We met with many legislators regarding passage of a predatory marketing bill. Virtually everyone we met with supported this bill and agreed to sign on. We discussed sober home regulation, implementation of a sober high school on Long Island and additional recovery centers on Long Island. Thank you to everyone who went up and to all our elected officials that took the time to hear our concerns."

In the years since her son's death, Farrell found comfort in creating "On Kevin's Wings — Hope Takes Flight", a not-for-profit that raises funds to help provide airfare and a means for those struggling with addiction to find help.

Hope is what Farrell tries to imbue, through her work on the advisory board of FIST, with executive director Anthony Rizzuto — FIST, along with the Long Island Recovery Association and Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence were awarded state funding to open a recovery center, the THRIVE Long Island Recovery Center, located at 1324 Motor Parkway in Hauppauge.

She added that it was her third time in Albany. "I become more confident each time. I learn from the best. It's an unexplainable feeling when you know they actually hear you. I'm so proud to be part of a group that fights hard for change."

Assemblyman Palumbo said as a former narcotics prosecutor and as a defense attorney, the families and stories resonate.

"It's wonderful to see that we are addressing this, and these families are addressing, themselves, all aspect os this opioid crisis that we are facing," Palumbo said.

The greatest struggle, Palumbo said, "is that the drugs themselves aren't necessarily illegal. I think that is the most sinister aspect of opioid addiction. It can be legally possessed in your medicine cabinet."

And, he added, the cheaper alternative to prescription opioids is heroin, "even more deadly."

Palumbo said he hopes to see the grass roots movement of families gain traction and become more prevalent both state and nationwide in the near future.

Patch photos courtesy of the Maffetone family.