Forum puts focus on heroin boom

April 29--State Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, brought together people from many different perspectives Monday to discuss a growing drug problem facing communities in the area and around the state.

The Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction met at Hunt Union at the SUNY Oneonta.

The session is one of 14 such meetings that the senate committee will hold to gather information to address the issues by June 1. The goal is to come up with possible legislative action by the end of the state session that month, Seward said.

Nearly 30 people who deal with the problem, from law enforcement, education, health care and treatment and concerned citizens, shared their views on the issue over a two-and-a-half-hour session. Attendees also included senate task force chairman Phil Boyle, R-East Islip, and Sen. Thomas O'Mara, R-Big Flats, who is also on the task force.

The state and national statistics mirror what is going on here, Seward said. In 2011, he said, 2,051 people died from opioid overdoses in New York. Opioids, or opiates, include heroin and prescription painkillers.

Nationwide, heroin overdose deaths increased 55 percent from 2000 to 2010.

"Lives are being lost and families destroyed," because of this problem, Seward said. "Law enforcement and prosecutors are being stretched thin."

In related news, the Associated Press reported Monday that state lawmakers have written a package of six bills to combat heroin with tougher penalties for dealers, more funding for overdose-reversal drugs and increased better coverage for treatment.

After the session, Seward, who is chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Insurance, said: "it will take a multi-pronged strategy to address the problem."

Seward said solutions should include expanding treatment, additional education and preventative measures and changes in how insurance is handled. He said he'd like to see the decisions in the hands of a patient's doctor, and not made by the insurance company.

The session started with testimony from two members of the community.

"Heroin and opiate addiction doesn't discriminate," said Oneonta resident Deb France. She said problems that led to her son Jeremy's death at age 23 started when he was 16 or 17, when prescription painkillers were prescribed by Jeremy's dentist after his wisdom teeth were extracted.

His "downward spiral" went from purchasing prescription pills from his classmates to heroin and other opiates, she said, and ended with his suicide. She said her family had problems with a lack of nearby treatment, and said insurance companies wouldn't pay for the necessary care.

More needs to be invested in prevention programs and community education, France said, as well as in treatment centers at the local level. Officials need to recognize that jail is not the place for addicts unless there is a recovery program to assist them, she said.

Insurance companies need to recognize "addiction is a disease" and provide the length of treatment needed to assist in recovery, she said.

Mylea Buffo, 27, from Schenevus, said her problem of prescription pill and heroin abuse started more than seven years ago when the pills were prescribed by a doctor for back pain. She described a path that led to her arrest for criminal possession of a controlled substance.

She said she's been clean and sober for five months, and takes drug court -- which was part of her sentence -- very seriously.

"It's a way to freedom from my chains of addiction," she said. She criticized those who fault the I-STOP program that New York implemented last August, which was designed to stop over-prescription of pain medication. With more education, that will change, she said.

"I'd like to blame doctors, but I have to take responsibility" as part of her recovery she said. "If I can save just one kid from the pain I have suffered, I will be completely satisfied with the way my life turned out."

Seward thanked the two for putting "real people" behind the statistics.

The rest of the session included comments from professionals in various fields. Chenango County Sheriff Ernest Cutting Jr. said he "sounded the alarm" three years ago after seeing more and more heroin in the area. In the last year it has become such a problem that he has devoted an officer to addressing it, he said.

This sharpened focus has resulted in 60 felony arrests and 58 misdemeanor and violation arrests over a nine-month period ending in December, Cutting said. He said his department is also running a pickup program that has resulted in the removal of drug paraphernalia out of concern for related health issues.

Delaware County Undersheriff Craig DuMond said: "We can try to chase the symptoms, or attack the disease." He said his agency has opted for the latter by addressing the heroin problem through a variety of means, including instituting a canine unit, school visits, a tip line and involvement in a county-wide task force. To address the issue, an emphasis needs to be placed on "education, treatment and more aggressive law enforcement," he said.

Otsego County Addiction Recovery Services program manager Justin Thalheimer said drug court works to give people a chance to recover. It requires constant monitoring to be successful. He wished that it could be easier for people to get into. They are lucky if it is available before they face a felony charge, he said.

Schoharie District Attorney Jim Sackett said what is really needed is more resources for treatment, including long-term residential care.

Dr. Joseph Sellers of Bassett Healthcare Network Cobleskill encouraged legislative action to spread the use of Naloxone, a drug to counteract the effects of an overdose. He also said insurance companies are denying funding for essential treatment.

A.O. Fox Hospital Emergency Department Medical Director Kelly Robinson said that such steps as more-widespread detox rehabilitation on demand, widespread use of Naloxone, and reforms similar to those in New York City that prevent emergency departments from dispensing prescriptions of more than 12 opioids are important.

David Ramsey, executive director of Alcohol & Drug Abuse Council of Delaware County, said he hopes the legislature gives serious consideration to changing the role insurance companies have in getting people into detox programs. It should be made by the health-care professional who doesn't have a profit motive, he said. Ramsey also called for more investment in recovery centers.

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