The Heroin Epidemic: Education is Key

More people are dying from heroin and opiate overdoses each year regardless of the great a job that government, schools, law enforcement and healthcare organizations are doing to combat this epidemic.

This severe problem is very relevant to Long Island and is reaching epidemic proportions. The number of opioid overdoses on Long Island has been rapidly increasing in recent years. According to the Nassau County Medical Examiner’s office, there were 82 fatal overdoses in 2010. In 2016, that number increased to 190 deaths.

“Heroin is back and back in a big way,” Port Washington Police Department’s Administrator of Opiate Overdose Prevention Program Lieutenant Kevin McCarroll said. “But it’s not just heroin that is the problem. Prescription painkillers (anything drug that ends in ‘odone’) are opiates and are just as addictive as heroin.” Many heroin users often start with these pills, gravitating to heroin because it is cheap and easy to find.

Narcan is a drug used to combat the deadly effects of opiate overdoses and potentially save lives. In 2015, Nassau Police made 564 Narcan “saves” on people overdosing on opiates. This life-saving drug is also being used by everyday citizens to potentially save the life of a stranger, friend, or family member.

The goal of Narcan training sessions is to educate the public and train people to administer it. Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton, along with the County Executive’s office, have held Narcan training sessions in several towns throughout northern Nassau County including, Glen Cove and Port Washington.

Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton recently hosted a Narcan education and training session at Manorhaven Village Hall in Port Washington. Two parents whose families have been forever changed because of heroin shared their stories with the training session attendees.

One child was athletic, an exceptional student and a volunteer firefighter whose peers admired him so much that he would have soon been promoted to Lieutenant. Unfortunately, his hidden heroin problem took his life while he was still a teenager. Another parent actually saved her son’s life because she had taken the Narcan training “just in case.” Also a good student from a good home, he had taken oxycodone to relieve pain from a sports injury and became addicted. He started using heroin because it was easy to find and cheap. Seven years later and the struggle to stay off heroin is still a daily battle.

Senior citizens can also overdose on pain medication. They keep taking them throughout the day for pain or sometimes forget whether or not they’ve taken a dose.

“This epidemic is hitting many of our families. It’s a crisis we all need to take seriously. Narcan provides a safe and effective tool,” Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton said. “Thanks to the Village of Manorhaven and Mayor Jim Avena for hosting the training.”

For information about future Narcan education and training sessions, visit nassaucountyny.gov/overdosetraining. To learn more about the warning signs of heroin and prevention, visit http://www.heroinprevention.com.

Pictured in photo: (From left) Port Washington (PW) Chief of Police Jim Salerno, Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton, PW Police Commissioner Angela Lawlins-Mueller, PW Police Department Administrator of Opiate Overdose Prevention Program and Lieutenant Kevin McCarroll and Nassau County Fire Marshall John Priest.