EdItOrIal Region needs treatment options HOPE outpatient PILLS …lee.net › app › 2014awards › news › glensfalls › 20140706_A6.pdf · 2014-10-19 · or by natural causes,
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OPINION SUNDAY July 6, 2014 PAGE A6 u u THE POST-STAR www.poststar.com/news/opinion “I’ve got this bad feeling the Civic Center might not have much time left.” DON COYOTE SAYS ... THE POST O STAR Glens Falls, N.Y. Founded 1904 u RICK EMANUEL | Publisher [email protected]BRIAN CORCORAN Controller/Operations Director [email protected]MICHELLE GIORGIANNI Circulation Director [email protected]MICHELLE RICE Advertising Director [email protected]KEN TINGLEY Editor [email protected]Want to make sure your elected representative knows how you feel? Need help resolving an issue? Or, do you just want to say, “Well done”? Find out how to reach your elected of- ficials by visiting poststar. com/officials/ CONTACT ELECTED OFFICIALS To be considered for publication, letters to the editor must be legible and brief. There is a strict 300-word limit for all letters. Letters will not be published anonymously. They must have the letter writer’s name and town or city of residence at- tached to them. Avoid using all capital letters for emphasis. All letters may be edited for style. The newspaper prefers letters to be submitted on post- star.com or via an email ([email protected]), but will accept printed or handwritten submissions. Please send your letters to: Letters to the Editor, The Post-Star, P.O. Box 2157, Glens Falls, NY 12801. LETTERS POLICY L et’s start with the shame. When we began report- ing on the local heroin problem several months ago, we found multiple drug overdoses where, in defer- ence to the family, the cause of death was said to be unexplained, or by natural causes, despite the presence of drugs and drug para- phernalia at the scene. The New York State Depart- ment of Health reported 2,051 deaths from opi- oids in 2011 and 2,044 in 2012. That number was twice what was reported in 2004. Consider- ing what we know now about un- reported overdoses, those num- bers are probably far greater. A day doesn’t go by without another story of a drug bust, an overdose, or a crime committed related to heroin addiction. Over the past four weeks, our reporters have been investigat- ing the extent of heroin use in our communities and the degree to which we have a problem. It appears to be considerable. One of our reporters heard Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan being interviewed on a local radio show several weeks ago. When asked if the problem was that bad, she confirmed it was. Let’s consider the denial. Thanks to the bravery of people like Judy Moffitt, who told her story in the second week of our series, we learned how drugs infiltrate and overwhelm regu- lar middle-class working fami- lies, and that even good kids can be led astray and have their lives wrecked. But most of all, we learned how heroin can over- whelm an addict’s life at the ex- pense of those dearest to them. And as Moffitt attests, it was almost impossible for her to help her son until it was too late. Let’s feel the anguish. There was the knock at the door last April at Sean and Tricia DeMerchant’s home in Halfmoon at 1:45 in the morning with a po- lice officer waiting to inform them their 22-year-old son, a student at SUNY Oswego, died of a heroin overdose. He was a month shy of receiving his bachelor’s degree. Let’s dwell on the impact. We were horrified with the story in week three of the three young girls abandoned by their mother for three days with only the bare minimum of essentials to survive. The oldest girl told of go- ing with her mother on late-night runs to buy drugs. It is incomprehensible any par- ent could walk away from the care of their children to indulge in the high of heroin, but those actions show the hold this insidious drug has on people who were once good mothers and fathers. We have found the causes and cures to be complex and multifac- eted, and not an easy fix. We learned our culture has overindulged in pain medications and that doctors sometimes over- prescribe. Amanda Northshield, interviewed while incarcerated in Washington County Jail, says in Monday’s story her road to heroin use began after being given Perco- cet after having her teeth pulled as a teenager. We learned what little crime there is in our idyllic communi- ties is usually attributed to drug addictions. We learned there are few viable treatment facilities in our region, insurance often denies coverage and, ultimately, the most effective way for addicts to detox is in the county jail. Yet, a couple of years ago, when Conifer Park tried to place a methadone clinic here in Glens Falls, our community recoiled in horror at the prospect it would bring addicts into our community. It turns out, they were already here. Yes, we have a problem. Several professionals in the medical community insist in today’s story that addicts can get clean under the right circum- stances, but that treatment re- sources are sadly lacking. Susan Roberts-McManus, Glens Falls Hospital’s director at the Center for Recovery, said de- tox centers are overwhelmed and “four to six days” is the longest stay addicts can get at drug reha- bilitation centers. “What is the point?” she said. “It’s not going to do it.” At the end of the legislative ses- sion in Albany, 11 new laws were passed to address the growing heroin problem, including add- ing 100 new officers to state drug units, stiffening penalties for doc- tors and pharmacists who illegally sell opioid pills and expanding the use of naloxone by EMS personnel to revive those who overdose. One bill included a measure to allow addicts to stay in treatment while they appeal insurance decisions about coverage. Ultimately, we do not believe these bills will provide enough re- sources to make a difference. Last winter, this community re- sponded to a homeless problem it previously did not know existed. We believe the drug problem to be far more significant and in need of a far greater response. As we embarked on this series, we were pleased to see commu- nity leaders were already rallying to address the problem. Earlier this year, Washington County Sheriff Jeff Murphy or- ganized a meeting of regional law enforcement groups to coordinate efforts in enforcement. Community leaders in the Glens Falls area organized a bi- county heroin task force that is planning a public forum July 23 at Hudson Falls High School to ad- dress the problem. Considering the number of ad- dicts in the county jail, the most immediate problem is finding ways to provide treatment. We urge the task force and community leaders to immedi- ately partner with local health institutions to provide the sub- stance abuse support needed here in our local communities where they can do the most good. Unfortunately, we don’t believe this problem is going away any- time soon. Local editorials represent the opinion of The Post-Star’s edi- torial board, which consists of Publisher Rick Emanuel, Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle and citizen representative Ralph Wilson. ADDICTION HEROIN OPIOIDS DEPENDENCE HELP REHABILITATION OUTPATIENT PILLS JAIL HOPE SUBSTANCE ABUSE HEALTH Region needs treatment options EDITORIAL OUR VIEW Heroin treatment is lacking in the region. Let’s celebrate what was good about Republican primary T he campaign to be the Republican Party’s nominee for Con- gress in the 21st Con- gressional district is over, and Elise Stefanik was been selected over Matthew Doheny as the nominee. Fresh off a campaign full of personal attacks, dam- aged campaign street signs and general ill will, it might be tempting to look back at the past few months and be ashamed of what happened in the North Country. Shame is never the right way to think about the North Country. The politics of the North Country have always worked differently — and better — than in the rest of the country. Looking back at the Republican primary, there should be pride that this district produced two viable primary candidates. In a big country, this is a rare feat. I was raised in Plattsburgh, and I strongly believe the policies of either Doheny or Stefanik would be disastrous for the North Country. But even I must concede both candidates were to be taken seriously. Doheny was a local boy turned good, going from Al- exandria Bay to Cornell Law School to a career as a mul- timillionaire lawyer and busi- nessman, who then decided to return to his roots in the North Country. Stefanik is one of the top young conservative politi- cal operatives in the coun- try. After graduating from Harvard College, she worked on domestic policy issues in the White House of Presi- dent George W. Bush. She later worked for the vice- presidential campaign of Paul Ryan. Contrast this Republi- can primary with congres- sional races in the rest of the country. The essence of our democracy should be competition, with voters choosing between appealing candidates. In the 2012 congressio- nal election, though, only slightly more than half the party primaries for Congress were contested. In Vermont, neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party can- didates for Congress faced a primary challenger. Democracy does not work as well if there is a choice of one. When there is competi- tion, it is usually the case there is one tolerable can- didate and one implausible candidate. In any given congres- sional election cycle, usu- ally between roughly 4 and 7 percent of these primary races are remotely competi- tive. Usually, one far stron- ger candidate easily defeats one far weaker candidate. A contested primary is rarely a close primary. By contrast, in the North Country, the loser in the Re- publican primary last week (Doheny) would have been the strongest candidate in many Republican congres- sional primaries in the coun- try. Second place in the North Country would have meant first place many other places in the country. The campaign for Con- gress will continue across this beautiful region for the next five months. As the North Country looks forward to what comes next, it should feel proud to look back at a Republican primary that made the politics, and the people of the North Country, stand out yet again. David Fontana was raised in Plattsburgh and is an associate professor of law at George Wash- ington University School of Law in Washington, D.C. STEFANIK DOHENY
