Names Sought For Fentanyl Memorial Rocks At Suffolk Legislature

PORT JEFFERSON, NY — One hundred and seventy-five people die from fentanyl overdoses in the United States daily.

To remember them, and draw attention to the need for more awareness that just one pill of the highly potent drug can kill, two local women have banded together with a purpose to see that those names are not forgotten.

They are hoping to have 175 names with a local connection by Tuesday so that they can be displayed on a collection of purple-colored rocks outside the Suffolk County Legislature in Hauppauge on Tuesday for Fentanyl Awareness Day.

Carole Trottere, an Old Field mom who lost her 30-year-old son, Alex, to a fentanyl overdose in 2018, said she will display some rocks, along with educational material, along with other parents who have lost their children, at a table at the Port Jefferson Farmer's Market on Sunday.

To her, 175 deaths per day nationwide is catastrophic.

“That's seven and a half deaths every hour,” Trottere said. “I feel like a plane is crashing every day and people are just ignoring it.”

Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among adults between 18 and 45.

New York’s opioid overdose death rates exceeded national rates in both 2020 and 2021.

There, at the farmers market, visitors who lost a loved one can have the name or photo of a loved one added to a rock, which will be included in the display at the legislature.

Visitors can either write a name, or dates, or even just the word “forever,” as some have already done — however, they want their loved one remembered.

Suffolk Legis. Kara Hahn, who devised the concept of the purple memorial rocks, said that she does not expect to fill all the rocks with a name or other token, but only wishes to mark the memories in the best way that they can.

Hahn paired with Trottere to collect the rocks from a local beach and then painted them purple.

“Every one of them is someone's son, someone's mother, someone's grandchild, and it is just heartbreaking,” she said. “We have to do what we can.”

Hahn said there will be a news conference at the Legislature, also on Tuesday, to mark Fentanyl Awareness Day.

She noted that officials will spread the word about the drug, which is becoming more accessible on the street.

Seventy percent of opioid overdoses are now attributed to fentanyl components.

Many who end up taking the drug are buying it under the belief it is something else not as potent, Hahn said, adding that it has been found in street drugs that students use to stay awake for exams.

“It's a poisoning because people are getting pills that they think are much less,” she said.

So Sunday's attendance at the farmer's market will not only be about the collection of names for the rock display.

Visitors to the farmer's market can learn about fentanyl and how to prevent loved ones from using it.

It's part of a larger campaign called “One pill can kill.”

As part of the campaign, members of the drug awareness and advocacy community, and law enforcement, are working with the parents of young people who have died from using the drug to tell their stories in hopes of stopping the crisis.

Members of the Long Island Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence and Families in Support of Treatment will be on hand to answer questions. Officers from the Suffolk County Police Department will be on hand to train people in the use of Narcan, the antidote to overdose, and they will be distributing free Narcan kits.

Trottere says she feels like Alex has guided her into her new-found cause of drug awareness advocacy.

“I know that he would be happy that I am trying to do something to save somebody's life and to save some of the parents from having to go through the grief,” she said.

The Port Jefferson Village Center is located at 101 East Broadway in Port Jefferson. The farmer's market will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, email Carole Trottere at catrottere@gmail.com.