Heroin use is a growing problem in North Country, drawing the attention of government officials and law enforcement. As a result, Assemblymember Addie Russell is proposing new legislation to combat heroin abuse in St. Lawrence County.
“Russell is currently writing legislation to address the heroin problem in the area,” said Ryne Martin, the press secretary for Addie Russell. “The heroin problem is an issue that Addie Russell cares very much about. She has been working on the legislation for awhile now.”
He indicated that heroin use and the subsequent overdoses were wreaking havoc on small communities in upstate New York. “The epicenter of the heroin problem in St. Lawrence County is Massena,” said Martin. Massena was home to a drug bust in December which resulted in multiple arrests of individuals suspected of dealing heroin.
“Russell hopes to unveil the legislation very soon, maybe within a week,” said Martin. Assemblymember Russell could not be reached in time as she was traveling for a prior engagement, so the details of her legislation are lacking. If recent state and national measures are any guide, the legislation will likely focus on preventative measures, including reducing opiate prescriptions, increasing funding to outreach agencies and increasing access to the drugs used to help overdosing users.
Heroin abuse is not confined to upstate New York, as it has become a national issue. According to a report from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 10,574 heroin overdoses across the country in 2014, a fivefold increase since 2002.
“The number of users and people who overdose on opioid pain relievers has increased drastically since the 1999s,” said Kathryn Kaplan of The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The CDC estimates that nearly 1.9 million American have a dependency on opiates and nearly 500,000 have a heroin addiction.
Experts point towards the increase in opiate abuse as a reason for increased heroin use. Painkillers, such as Oxycodone, are extremely addictive and expensive to procure illegally. According to the NIDA , one study found that 94 percent of people receiving treatment for opiate abuse choose to switch to heroin because prescription opiates “were far more expensive and harder to obtain.”
With the national level of opiate abuse and deadly overdoses on the rise, the results are being felt everywhere. “I have lost three former students to heroin overdoses over the past four years,” said Bev Weinberg, a teacher in an alternative program for at-risk teens at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury, Massachusetts. She said her students started with painkillers but switched to heroin because it was more affordable and abundant.
“The worst part of my job is going to a funeral for a student, especially when it is from overdoses. It is such a tragic and pointless loss of life,” said Weinberg.
National efforts to curb heroin use and overdoses have resulted in some gains. Kaplan referred The Hill News to the congressional testimony of Nora D. Volkow, the Director of the NIDA. Volkow indicated that one effective measure to reduce overdoses was to supply towns with naloxone, a drug that restores regular respiratory functions to an overdosing individual. “Lay-distributed naloxone had resulted in more than 10,000 overdose reversals nationwide since 1996,” said Volkow. She also stressed the importance of education and funding to outreach groups in order to address the heroin problem that is plaguing the country.