About 45 percent of people who use heroin are also addicted to prescription opioid painkillers, according to the CDC. "Kids don't know the most basic information" about addiction and overdoses, she said.
Executive Director Ellen Morehouse said her counselors are "taking more time to explain" about opioids and other substances. In the Hudson Valley, a not-for-profit in Tarrytown called Student Assistance Services provides counselors and programs for school districts in the area of substance abuse. The organization also holds community forums and panels, often including someone in recovery, as well as an addiction specialist. "We do tailor-made presentations that are able to address specific needs." "We've had a strategic partnership with 11 districts, where we send prevention educators into kindergarten through high school," said Justin Hamm, of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council (ADAC) of Delaware County. The state health education curriculum now requires information about heroin and opioids as part of the overall prevention strategy.įor many schools, fulfilling that mandate and other prevention efforts involves partnerships with community agencies and bringing experts into the classroom and assemblies. In large part because of the opioid epidemic, we're moving DARE from fifth grade to eighth grade to do more specific targeting." "We want to put more information into the hands of students and parents," said Stone. In Lakeland, for example, Stone said the district has worked with the town supervisors in Yorktown and Cortlandt, as well as community organizations and law enforcement, to present panels and workshops about opioid abuse prevention. "Emphasis has been shifted to community coalitions, with school-based programs that also push out into larger communities," said Steve Rabinowitz, a consultant who recently retired from the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. There is widespread agreement that prevention must improve, and that schools need to be part of the effort.
Cuomo launched a New York State Joint Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction in 2014, followed by a Statewide Heroin Task Force in 2015, to combat the opioid abuse epidemic.Ī 2015 law allows schools to have a drug on site, naloxone, to handle overdoses. After all, she notes, substance abuse often starts in middle school or high school. "Schools are the biggest and best opportunity to address these problems," according to Cortney Lovell, a recovery coach and addictions counselor, as well as founder and director of WRise, a consulting firm based in the Albany area. Prevention has gained urgency as schools and their communities absorb the impact of these tragedies. The largest increase in opioid admissions from 2009 to 2014 was in patients ages 18 to 34.Īlthough most of the drug-related deaths occur after students have graduated, these losses still hit school communities hard. In 2014, there were more than 118,000 admissions into New York State-certified treatment programs for heroin and prescription opioid abuse, according to Gov. More than six in 10 drug overdose deaths were linked to opioid use in 2014. The opioid overdose rate has tripled since 2000. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), heroin use more than doubled among young adults ages 18-25 in the past decade. "There's been a fair number of overdoses, which is very disturbing," said George Stone, superintendent in Westchester County's Lakeland school district. The same is true in many school districts across the state. "I'm losing them after graduation, when they're 18 to 25." "I'm not losing my kids at school," said O'Brien. He's an emergency medical technician in his Delaware County community, and sometimes he recognizes the faces of his patients as former students. Roxbury Superintendent Tom O'Brien knows what a heroin overdose looks like. Slow, shallow breathing and a weak pulse.
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