Letter To The Editor: Facing Rockland’s Opiate Crisis

To the Editor,

Almost 60 years ago, I was appointed to the newly created Orangetown Narcotics Council to help address the heroin crisis in Rockland County. 60 years later, we have an Opiate Crisis and it's the same vis a vis addiction and death, but also very different.

This time the threat to lives impact people of every age and cohort of our society and the drugs are being prescribed, not smuggled in and bought and sold in shady places from shady people. And the “stash” might even be in the family’s medicine cabinet.

Insufficient attention was given to the potency of the opioids to addict and kill.

To help stem the harm, public education is needed. To this end there will be a free educational seminar for families, high school students, educators, everyone at 7 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Venture Center across the street from the St Thomas Aquinas College campus on Rte 340 in Sparkill.

To save a seat, please make a free reservation at www.rocklandadvocates.org. No money or politics are involved. It is a free Public Service offering.

John Allen Murphy