Heroin's New Home

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Heroin has taken up residency in suburban Long Island. The number of heroin users and heroin-related deaths has been steadily rising over the past few years. The most rapid growth is among those under age 21. But with the increase in heroin abuse, the already limited access to treatment is getting worse.

Abuse of prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin has increased 33% in five years, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. A study by Drs. Robert Heimer and Lauretta Grau at Yale University found abuse of prescription opioids does lead to heroin use within one year.

Because of the rise in addiction to prescription drugs, "doctor shopping" is becoming more and more popular among addicts: which is when a patient goes to multiple doctors to get more prescription drugs than recommended for safe use. Now prescription drugs have become difficult to obtain and expensive on the street. And the consequence has been that users turned to a stronger, more available and cheaper alternative: heroin.

In April of 2015, Olivia McClellan passed away of a Heroin overdoes in her Hofstra University dorm room. Almost an exact year later, Mathew Murr of Garden city lost his fight with heroin addiction : He passed away from an overdose.

Stories like McClellan and Murr are become all to popular among Long Island suburbs and the numbers are growing.

Overdoses from opioids, which include heroin and some prescription painkillers, killed more than 2,000 New Yorkers in 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control. That’s double the number who died in 2004. Long Island hit record numbers with 242 reported heroin-related deaths in 2012 and 2013. And the Island has seen a steady increase in heroin-related arrests for last two years. These local numbers mimic the countries rising numbers.

What Can be done ?

Comparatively, NYC is handling their heroin problem in better ways. NYC has seen an increase in heroin related arrest and reported overdoses by about 17%. That is almost half that of Long Island.

In August 2013, New York City implemented iStop, a state law that monitors prescription medications to curb opioid abuse and “doctor shopping". Istop serves as a monitoring system/tracker of all entries made on the Prescription Monitoring Program Registry . The system is now in place for even veterinarians.

In addition to monitoring systems like Istop, more funding and promotion can be put towards the help centers open and dedicated to fighting this cause: The Long Island Center for recovery & South Oaks Hospital.

With the issue gain more light each year, hopefully Long Island will find ways to change the direction of the tide.

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