Throne-Holst Questions Zeldin's Record on Combating the Heroin Epidemic

A recent state report shows that Suffolk County had more deaths related to heroin overdoses between 2000 and 2013 than any other county in New York. More than 300 people died in Suffolk County due to heroin overdoses during this time period. These deaths include suicides when the individual was overdosing on heroin.

“We had one incident that actually wasn't an overdose; it was a suicide with a young kid, maybe in his 20s. He was hooked on heroin and he hung himself in his closet,” said a Suffolk County firefighter who would like to remain anonymous due to the confidentiality of the case.

To prevent more of these deaths, members of Congress passed 18 bills in May to make it more difficult for heroin to come into the country and to treat those who are already addicted. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican representative for New York’s 1st Congressional District, helped create one of these bills, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (“CARA”).

For CARA to effectively prevent more deaths, the bill proposes providing $80 million to community-based education, prevention, treatment and recovery based programs. It would also provide funding to expand prescription drug monitoring across the country, and funding to supply first responders and police with more Naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses.

“The highest priority for us on Long Island: education, prevention and punishment are the most important, but I don’t want to minimize the importance of law enforcement on the border,” said Zeldin.

Currently, CARA is in a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill; but medical professionals are already benefitting from the new guidelines for prescribing painkillers, or opioids, which are often a gateway drug for heroin.

According to Patricia Wetsell, a physician assistant at Heart and Health Medical in Middle Island, the new guidelines “makes it easier for us to say ‘no’ to people who have had opioids prescribed to them for years by other physicians or practitioners.”

Still, some believe more has to be done to fight this epidemic. Former Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, who is running for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 1st Congressional District, stated that more money needs to be available at a local level, where medical facilities would coordinate efforts to stop prescribing painkillers to those who may become addicted and would send patients to treatment facilities.

“I think that this is a problem we see repeatedly with Lee Zeldin is that you can’t put together ideas without thinking about the price tag. In this case, it is clear that not appropriating enough will have a higher cost to society,” said Throne-Holst.

Democrats in Congress proposed an amendment to provide an additional $600 million in emergency funding, but it was blocked by Republicans who said the money will come after the 2017 budget is decided. President Obama also proposed an additional $1.1 billion to address prescription pill overdoses, but it also did not pass. But despite Republicans' concerns over costs, Rep. Zeldin would like to see additional funding for the bill.

“Perhaps the most important part of the committee on CARA is to boost the funding. I’d much rather see the conference committee propose the higher number,” said Zeldin.

Throne-Holst seems to agree, but also added that more treatment facilities need to be created and that she supports the proposal to turn Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Brentwood into an in-house treatment facility.

“It really is a crisis and we haven’t seen a crisis like this in Suffolk County and it needs to be treated as a crisis. The cost of inaction is always higher than the cost of action,” she said.

See how many people were admitted to heroin and opioid treatment facilities per county in 2015.