By Kieran McGovern
A quiet, friendly, suburban town on the North Shore of Suffolk County, Smithtown, like any community, is not without its issues and negative realities. A growing threat to the community exists. It is not the abandoned Kings Park Psychiatric Center or Smithtown’s tax rate, it is substance abuse.
Many people don’t consider drug and alcohol addiction a problem because it is behind the scenes; out of sight and out of mind. That ignorance is part of the problem and one of the main reasons why the heroin phenomenon has grown to very high proportions in Smithtown.
Jeffrey Reynolds, Executive Director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (LICADD), which has offices in Williston Park, Ronkonkoma and Riverhead stated that, ”Smithtown is one of the communities that has been hardest hit by opiate (heroin-derived substances) addiction,” Reynolds noted, “and that is partly because they weren’t prepared to effectively handle such issues. When you think heroin, you think of run-down parts of the lower east side, you don’t consider that it may be your neighbor selling it and your family member buying it. ”
Reynolds stated that other factors contributing to substance abuse across long Island are lack of educational programs and community services due to funding cuts at the local and state levels. Another reason is ease of access to prescription and over-the-counter drugs containing opiate-based substances. People do not generally dispose of such medications they may keep them “lying around the house,” where they are accessible to teenagers in particular.
This is not to suggest heroin addiction is exclusively a youth problem—it runs the gamut and affects folks of all ages. One person, a survivor of multiple addictions stated, “I’d buy heroin from a guy my dad’s age, and we all snorted in an old man’s shed. It’s only so bad for us (younger people) because we typically have nothing to do and nowhere to go for fun.” According to Suffolk County Police, drug-related arrests, accidents and fatalities have all skyrocketed in the last two or three years, and one local store discontinued its sale of Oxycontin and similar drugs after being held up more than once by people craving the substance.
What is the prognosis? “Sadly we have lost some lives, and we are going to lose more before it runs its course,” said Reynolds. However, he added that collaborative efforts between school districts, families and authorities have increased awareness and prevented many deaths, addictions and incarceration. Reynolds explained that mass addictions come in waves, “the last big heroin outbreak was back in the late 70s, and that is once again the drug of choice.” He believes the next drug to watch out for is crystal methamphetamine.
Mr. Reynolds said approximately 20-25 Smithtown residents use LICADD’s services per month, which include inpatient detoxification, rehabilitation (inpatient or outpatient), transfer to crisis centers and halfway houses, information and referral. And self-help groups. All services are administered on family-help or individual levels. Other such organizations include Pederson-Krag, Town of Smithtown Horizons and Education Center, the Long Island Center for Recovery (LICR) and local Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotic’s Anonymous chapters
It is important to remember that the true victims of addiction are this suffering from their addiction. A person should not be looked upon as immoral, bad or non-respectable simply because they have an addiction(s). People experiencing drug or alcohol dependency are encouraged to pursue the services of the above-stated agencies. We must come together as a community to battle issues of substance abuse.
Long Island Center for Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (LICADD) – (516) 747-2606 http://www.licadd.com/
Pederson-Krag (Smithtown) – (631) 265-3311 http://pederson-krag.org/
Long Island Center Recovery (LICR) – (631) 728-3100 http://longislandcenterforrecovery.com/
Horizons – (631) 360-7578 http://www.smithtowninfo.com/
Seafield – (631) 288-1122 http://www.seafieldcenter.com/
Charlie Murphy’s Residence and Resort (out-of-pocket) – (631) 261-0057 http://www.cm-residence.com/