PUBLIC FORUM: WESTERN NEW YORK PANEL DISCUSSION ON HEROIN EPIDEMIC IN THE SENECA NATION AND SURROUNDING AREAS

Unknown Speaker 2 22 (no microphone/no visual name placard) 23 START OF PANELIST PARTICIPATION PAGE 27 24 START OF AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION AND Q&A PAGE 106 25 ---oOo--- 1 MICHAEL KIMELBERG: My name is 2 Mike Kimelberg, Seneca Nation Chief Operating 3 Officer, and I welcome you to this historic event. 4 The New York State Senate and Seneca Nation 5 leadership understand that the drug issue knows no 6 boundaries. 7 And we welcome the State's Task Force to our 8 territory today, to work together on this matter of 9 mutual concern. 10 Today's joint forum reinforces the need to 11 tackle this community issue with cooperation, 12 collaboration, and commitment of all resources at 13 our disposal. 14 As is customary, we'll be starting today's 15 event with a traditional prayer. 16 I would like to introduce Seneca Nation 17 member Travis Stafford for today's [speaking native 18 language], which is -- kind of serves as a daily 19 reminder to appreciate and acknowledge all things. 20 Travis. 21 Oh, for media purposes, we don't videotape or 22 audiotape this portion. Thanks. 23 [Proceeding taken off video and audio.] 24 [The forum resumed, as follows:] 25 MICHAEL KIMELBERG: Thank you, Travis, for 1 those good words. 2 We have a robust program today. 3 I understand it departs a little bit from the 4 Senate's Task Force format in previous stops, that 5 it's been more of a hearing format. 6 Today we're going to do a panel discussion, 7 and it's really intended to be interactive, with 8 questions and discussion, and it's broken out by 9 various topics. 10 It's really heartening to see such a diverse 11 cross-section of the community here, as well, today; 12 in particular, so much representation from our 13 school districts. 14 Also, I want to recognize all of the elected 15 officials who have made time to be here. 16 From the Seneca Nation: 17 President Barry E. Snyder, Sr.; 18 Treasurer Rodney Pierce [ph.]; 19 Tribal Councilor and member of the 20 Seneca Drug Task Force, Richard Nephew; 21 Tribal Councilor and task-force member 22 Arlene Bovay; 23 Tribal Councilor and task-force member 24 Jeff Gill; 25 Tribal Councilor and task-force member 1 Darlene Miller. 2 Also want to recognize the other tribal 3 councilors from the nation who are in attendance 4 today: 5 Councilor Linda Doxtator; 6 Councilor Christine [ph.] Jimerson; 7 Councilor Nicki Seneca; 8 Councilor Al George; 9 Councilor Travis Jimerson; 10 Councilor Brian Gonzalez; 11 And Councilor Tina Abrams. 12 Thank you. 13 Also, I want to welcome our friend, the mayor 14 of Salamanca, Carmen Vecchiarella. 15 And from New York State, I would like to give 16 a warm welcome to Senators Cathy Young, Phil Boyle, 17 Patrick Gallivan, and George Maziarz, as the 18 co-hosts of today's forum; 19 And, also, to all the professionals who are 20 participating on the forum, that are here today. 21 I think it's fair to say that the disease of 22 addiction affects us all in some way, directly or 23 indirectly, people that we know and care for. 24 So I wanted to take a moment of silence to 25 remember those who have lost their battle with 1 drugs, those who are struggling now, and comfort 2 those who have lost family and friends. 3 [A moment of silence is observed.) 4 MICHAEL KIMELBERG: Thank you. 5 It's now time to get started with the 6 program. 7 Before we delve into the panel discussions, 8 as I mentioned, which are going to be organized by 9 topic, I'd like to invite a few -- several key 10 community leaders to say a few words. 11 Our first speaker, in his 2014 State of 12 Nation Address, identified the drug issue, in 13 particular, as reaching a level of community crisis 14 here in our territories. 15 But he also recognized the complexity of that 16 issue, and dealing with it required a multi-faceted 17 approach. It's not just about enforcement, but, 18 awareness, education, community values, et cetera. 19 So, he's really worked hard with our tribal 20 council, with our drug task force that was assembled 21 shortly after that address; and really supporting a 22 lot of community programs to tackle this problem, 23 with community action; and also forging some unique 24 partnerships with our surrounding school districts 25 and law enforcement through the SRO program, to name 1 one. 2 With that, I'm pleased to introduce the 3 president of the Seneca Nation, Barry E. Snyder, Sr. 4 [Applause.] 5 MICHAEL KIMELBERG: It's a long walk. 6 BARRY E. SNYDER, SR.: I probably could have 7 stayed at the table. 8 It's good to see everybody here, I tell you. 9 Again, as I always say, [speaking native 10 language.] 11 Good morning, and welcome to the 12 Seneca Nation in a first joint anti-drug task-force 13 forum between New York State and the nation. 14 I'm honored to be here today, joining the 15 finest of our law-enforcement friends, educators, 16 health-care professionals, and leaders of New York 17 State and Seneca Nation, who are here, committed to 18 leading the fight against the addiction to drugs and 19 alcohol that is breaking down the fabric and 20 integrity of our communities. 21 I thank the members of the Seneca Nation 22 Anti-Drug Task Force and Seneca Strong campaign for 23 their leadership and commitment to creating positive 24 change in our territories towards prevention, 25 treatment, and recovery of alcohol and drug 1 addiction. 2 I send a personal thanks to you, our partners 3 from New York State, who also tirelessly work on 4 this lifesaving issue, and have taken on to crusade 5 to bring this type of forum to communities 6 throughout New York State; 7 The efforts of Senator Young, Senator Boyle, 8 Senator Maziarz, Senator Gallivan, and 9 County Executive Vince Horrigan are bringing to the 10 front an issue that can no longer be ignored. 11 Welcome to all the panelists who have come to 12 share their experiences, wisdom, and guidance as we 13 address difficult issues that are, quite simply, 14 destroying our families and our friends. 15 Also, thanks to all of the guests who are 16 here to participate in this discussion; all becoming 17 ambassadors, as we take this work and messages to 18 our people, and out into our communities. 19 Today we are coming to go to protect our 20 communities' young people that are being targeted 21 and drawn into the world of illegal-drug use. 22 The Seneca Nation is dealing with a situation 23 of epidemic proportions. There is no time to wait, 24 and hope that this invasion of illegal drugs into 25 the lives of our families will run its course and go 1 away. 2 It is something that we need to do together, 3 as a community, as friends, families, and neighbors, 4 to save the lives of all of our future generations. 5 Recently, the Seneca Nation Tribal Council 6 passed a resolution to establish the drug and 7 alcohol task force to develop a broad 8 community-based approach to addressing drug and 9 alcohol abuse, and aiding and reducing the negative 10 impact it has on our community. 11 This task force will work to support their 12 mission of the newly introduced Seneca Strong fight 13 against alcohol and drug campaign. 14 We also are very proud of our work, 15 established Seneca school -- Seneca resource 16 officers in our local schools, including Gowanda, 17 Silver Creek, Lake Shore, and Salamanca. 18 School-based policing has emerged in recent 19 years as an effective area of law enforcement. 20 I think it's effectives can, in large part, 21 be attributed to the program's collaborative nature 22 which combines efforts of police agencies, 23 educators, students, parents, and communities. 24 Collaboration and mutual respect are the 25 hallmarks of any successful community action, and 1 this program most recently attests to that. 2 Our kids are our future. 3 And I'll say it again, "Our kids are our 4 future." 5 Providing them with the safe and productive 6 learning environment gives them the key to thrive 7 and prosper. 8 The SRO program is making a significant 9 contribution and impact in this regard, providing 10 valuable resources to school staff, fostering a 11 positive relationship with our youth, and developing 12 strategies to resolve problems affecting our youth. 13 And most recently, we began to train our own 14 Seneca Nation marshals, as you'll see them over 15 here, and first responders, to carry Narcan, for the 16 purpose of treating overdose victims. 17 And all of those efforts, combined work of 18 the people here today, will send a message to the 19 good people of the Seneca Nation and the state of 20 New York that our communities are serious about a 21 fight against drugs. 22 I thank everyone involved for their 23 commitment and dedication to this very important 24 lifesaving initiative. 25 For our people, it is my heart-felt belief 1 that an issue of this magnitude can only be solved 2 by our communities. 3 In conclusion, I want to share a prayer with 4 you that I live by: 5 "This is the beginning of a new day. The 6 Creator has given us the day to use as we will. We 7 can waste it, or we can use it for good, but what we 8 do today is important because we are exchanging a 9 day of our lives for it." 10 I think something we need to talk about all 11 the time is, what we do today. 12 Did we do good today? 13 If we don't do good today, we can't go 14 tomorrow and look back on tomorrow what we should 15 have done. 16 We've run out of options. 17 There are no more options to what we have to 18 do. 19 We know what we have to do. 20 All we got to do is sit down, collaborate 21 together, and we got to get this work done. 22 It's our future, for all of our young people. 23 All of our young people. 24 Again, thank you for coming here today. 25 I know we're going to have a very productive 1 forum. 2 And [speaks native language] from the 3 President's Office, Tribal Council, from the 4 Seneca Nation people. 5 Again, thank you for coming. 6 [Applause.] 7 MICHAEL KIMELBERG: Thank you, 8 President Snyder. 9 Next speaker is a good friend of the 10 Seneca Nation. She works tirelessly for her 11 district on a wide variety of issues. 12 It's been a pleasure to work with her 13 throughout the years. 14 Senator Cathy young. 15 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 16 [Applause.] 17 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, and good 18 afternoon. 19 I'd like to join President Barry Snyder in 20 welcoming everyone here today on this critically 21 important topic. 22 I especially want to thank President Snyder 23 for his leadership; the tribal councilors for all 24 that they're doing as leaders; and, also, all of the 25 members of the Seneca Nation for their hospitality, 1 for their friendship, and their partnership. 2 Today truly is a historic day. 3 Today is a day when the Seneca Nation and 4 New York State have joined together for the first 5 time, to tackle policy areas, and work together to 6 come up with solutions on a specific problem that is 7 facing all of us. 8 I also want to thank the panelists who are 9 here today. 10 As I look around, I see this great depth of 11 knowledge and expertise in each of your areas. 12 And today is bringing all of those pieces of 13 the puzzle together, because you're experts in what 14 you do every single day. 15 But, this is an extremely complex issue. 16 This is one that does not have a silver-bullet 17 solution. 18 And by working together, getting your input 19 today, we can come up -- come together, and put 20 together these pieces of the puzzle, so that we can 21 truly take this issue on. 22 The heroin and opioid problem is killing 23 people. It's wrecking lives, it's wrecking futures, 24 it's ripping apart families; and we need to do 25 something about it. 1 It's a difficult topic. It's an ugly, ugly 2 issue, and it's a tragic issue. 3 And it's always important to remember that 4 addiction is an illness. And that's why we have 5 people here today, from the health community, we 6 have educators, we have students, we have 7 law enforcement. 8 And, by having everyone around the table, it 9 provides us, as Senators, with very important data 10 that we'll take back to Albany. 11 I especially want to thank my colleagues from 12 the Senate who are here today. 13 Senator Phil Boyle comes from Suffolk County, 14 so he's from the far east. And, he had to travel a 15 great distance to be with us, to come do the far 16 west, because, as we know, Chautauqua County is the 17 furthest point west in New York State. 18 But I think it shows a level of commitment on 19 his part. 20 He can tell you about what he's been doing. 21 This is 18th forum that the Senate has held 22 through this Task Force across New York State. 23 We've been in every community, we've talked 24 to every different group, and we've come up with a 25 package of bills that he will speak to, and also 1 report. 2 And I also want to thank my colleagues, 3 Senator George Maziarz, Senator Patrick Gallivan, 4 for all that they do. They truly are leaders in 5 Albany. 6 And we appreciate the fact that they've taken 7 the time, because they know that this is an issue in 8 their communities, also. 9 You know, I also want to recognize, 10 Assemblyman Andy Goodell is here. 11 There's Andy Goodell [pointing]. 12 And he's working in the Assembly on these 13 issues. 14 And I do want to thank my friend and 15 colleague, Chautauqua County Executive 16 Vince Horrigan. 17 Almost immediately after he took office, 18 about five months ago, he recognized that something 19 had to be done about this issue; and so he's held 20 several forums. 21 And he's sharing -- he will be sharing his 22 expertise today, too. 23 But when you look at Chautauqua County alone, 24 in particular, the issue is stark. 25 It's been reported by the New York State 1 Department of Health, based on 2010 data -- so this 2 is data from four years ago, and it underscores the 3 issue that we're facing -- then, in 2010, the rate 4 of newborns in hospitals that were discharged with 5 opiate-type drugs in their systems was 157 infants 6 per 10,000. 7 This is almost 150 percent higher than the 8 New York State average that was just 64 per 10,000. 9 And as I said, that's based on 4-year-old 10 data. 11 The problem of addiction, by all measures, 12 has grown exponentially since that time. 13 And so the goal of this roundtable today is 14 to hear firsthand how real and serious this 15 drug-addiction problem to opiates and heroin has 16 become, and to hear from those who have personal 17 experience, as victims of addiction themselves, as 18 family members of loved ones who have struggled with 19 it, and as community leaders in our schools, 20 assistance agencies, law-enforcement teams, and 21 government, how to address this program and identify 22 solutions. 23 So, again, I commend the Seneca Nation of 24 Indians for all that they're doing. 25 And I want to let you know, they've taken 1 very proactive steps already. 2 I commend them for their funding of, for 3 example, school resource officers who are working 4 with our youth. 5 But they're doing many, many things. 6 Seneca Strong is a very exciting program, and 7 by having that community participation, I know that 8 we will make a difference. 9 So at this time, I would like to introduce my 10 colleague Senator Phil Boyle, who is the Chair of 11 the Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid 12 Addiction. 13 As I said, he's traveled around the state, 14 and he'd like to share some thoughts today. 15 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you, Senator Young, and 16 my Senate colleagues. 17 I, too, would like to thank President Snyder, 18 the Seneca Nation Tribal Council, and all the 19 members of the Seneca Nation Alcohol and Drug Abuse 20 Task Force, and all the members of the nation for 21 hosting this forum. 22 It truly a historic forum, as was said. 23 And I can tell you that, of the 18 forums 24 around the state of the Senate Task Force, I have 25 been able to personally appear at 15 of them. 1 It started in my home county of 2 Suffolk County, and, this is the final one of Senate 3 Task Force. It's the first day, historically. It's 4 the last one for the Senate Task Force. 5 But looking at this distinguished panel, 6 I think I can honestly say we may have saved the 7 best for last. 8 The experts here today, and the different 9 viewpoints we're going to hear, whether it's 10 education, prevention, treatment, and 11 law enforcement, is going to come back with some 12 ideas that we're going to pass into law. 13 And we're not talking about doing this 14 six months or two years down the road. 15 What they're going to talk about, passing 16 laws in the next couple weeks. 17 And with the technology we have, if you see 18 me looking down and texting, it's not because I'm 19 checking the sports scores, or something like that. 20 I'm, literally, texting my staff in Albany, to 21 modify language of legislation that we're going to 22 be passing in the next couple weeks. 23 It's going to be immediate, because there's 24 no more serious issue than heroin/opioid abuse. 25 As was said, we are losing children, we are 1 losing people of all ages, in the territory, and in 2 New York State, on a daily and weekly basis. And we 3 cannot afford to lose one more. 4 I thank the Seneca Nation for partnering with 5 us. 6 And we're going to get answers today, to save 7 lives, and bring families together. 8 Thank you, Senator. 9 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 10 [Applause.] 11 SENATOR YOUNG: I think we'd like to go 12 around the table. 13 Now, the great news is, that we have so many 14 people here today. 15 But the bad news is, that we have so many 16 people here today. 17 So I'm going to ask you to be brief, but if 18 you could please say your name, so that the people 19 in the audience can know is here, also, and what 20 your title is. 21 So, Charlie, why don't we start with you. 22 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: [Inaudible/no microphone.] 23 SENATOR YOUNG: Yep, and if you could pass 24 the microphone, too, so everyone can hear. 25 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: [Inaudible/no microphone.] 1 TAYLOR SENECA: I'm Taylor Seneca. I'm a 2 student at Lake Shore. 3 DOUG TUBINIS: I'm Doug Tubinis. I'm the 4 school resource officer with Lake Shore Schools. 5 DANIEL PACOS: I'm Dan Pacos. I'm the 6 assistant superintendent for administration of 7 finance at Lake Shore Schools. 8 DANIEL LJILJANICH: Daniel Ljiljanich, 9 superintendent of Silver Creek Schools. 10 CHEYANNE NEUBAUER: Cheyanne Neubauer, at 11 Silver Creek. 12 JOE HOLTSLEY [ph.]: Joe Holtsley [ph.] of 13 Silver creek. 14 DET. JENNIFER ALESSI: Jen Alessi, school 15 resource officer for Gowanda Central Schools. 16 MARK SCHULTZ: Mark Schultz, the principal of 17 Pioneer High School. 18 BRIAN MOHR: Brian Mohr, Erie County and 19 Cattaraugus County Sheriffs' Office. 20 SHERIFF TIMOTHY WHITCOMB: Tim Whitcomb, 21 Sheriff, Cattaraugus County. 22 SHERIFF JOSEPH GERACE: Joe Gerace, Sheriff, 23 Chautauqua County. 24 CAPTAIN ERIC J. BALON: Captain Eric Balon of 25 the New York State Police. 1 ASST. U.S. ATTY TIMOTHY LYNCH: Timothy Lynch 2 from the United States Attorney's Office. 3 MICHELLE SPAHN: Michelle Spahn, the resident 4 agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement 5 Administration, Buffalo Office. 6 POLICE CHIEF BERNIE MASULLO: Bernie Masullo, 7 Chief of Police of the Town of Evans Police 8 Department. 9 And we just recently entered into a great 10 relationship with the Seneca Nation, where they're 11 sponsoring a school resource officer. 12 And we're going to help to get a handle on 13 this very bad situation. 14 VINCE HORRIGAN: Vince Horrigan, 15 County Executive, Chautauqua. 16 SENATOR MAZIARZ: George Maziarz, New York 17 State Senator. 18 SENATOR GALLIVAN: Senator Pat Gallivan. 19 RICHARD NEPHEW: I'm Richard Nephew, member 20 of the Seneca Nation Council. 21 DR. LESLEY FARRELL: Lesley Farrell, 22 Social Services Commissioner for the Seneca Nation. 23 ARLENE BOVA: [Speaking native language.] 24 Arlene Bova, Seneca Nation Tribal Councilor. 25 I'm also an [unintelligible] grandmother of 1 seven, mother of five, and community member. 2 So I have some experience, and a passion to 3 see things resolved. 4 [Speaking native language.] 5 JEFFREY GILL: Jeffrey Gill, tribal 6 councilor. 7 DARLENE MILLER: [Speaking native language.] 8 Darlene Miller, tribal councilor, 9 Allegheny territory. 10 AVI ISRAEL: Avi Israel, president of 11 Save the Michaels of the World. 12 I lost my son Michael, at 20 years old, 13 3 years ago today. 14 AMANDA FERO: Amanda Fero, support-group 15 leader, and recovering addict. 16 LAURA ELLIOTT-ENGEL: Laura Elliot-Engle, 17 person in long-term recovery; executive director of 18 the Council on Addiction Recovery Services. 19 SANDRA HILL: Sandra Hill, community member 20 Allegheny territory, and member of the 21 Seneca Nation. 22 DR. HENRI LAMOTHE: I'm Dr. Henri Lamothe. 23 I'm a medical director at Bradford Regional Medical 24 Center. I work at Olean General Hospital in the 25 emergency department. 1 I'm also the medical director of 2 Catt County Emergency Medical Services. 3 DR. KENNETH LEONARD: I'm Ken Leonard. I'm 4 the director of the Research Institute on Addictions 5 at the University of Buffalo. 6 WENDY LUCE: I'm Wendy Luce. I'm the 7 division director of patient care at TLC Health 8 Network at Lake Shore Campus. 9 PATRICIA MUNSON: I'm Pat Munson. I'm 10 director of the Chautauqua Alcoholism and Substance 11 Abuse Council. 12 JODIE ALTMAN: I'm Jodie Altman. I'm the 13 campus director of Renaissance Addiction Services. 14 DR. JUDITH FELD: I'm Dr. Judith Feld, 15 medical director of behavioral health at 16 Independent Health. 17 RICHARD RYBICKI: Richard Rybicki, principal 18 at Southwestern Middle School. 19 ASHLEY CARNES: Ashley Carnes, student at 20 Southwestern School. 21 GABRIELLA HOOSE: Gabriella Hoose, student at 22 Southwestern School. 23 ROBERT BREIDENSTEIN: Bob Breidenstein, 24 superintendent of Salamanca Schools. 25 TIMOTHY PENCE: Tim Pence, Cattaraugus County 1 Sheriff's Office, SRO of Salamanca School. 2 SENATOR YOUNG: Great, thank you very much. 3 So, let's kick things off. 4 We do have people whose lives have been 5 personally affected by addiction. 6 And, today we have joining us, she introduced 7 herself, Amanda Fero. 8 Amanda is a young woman in her 20s, and 9 she's been in recovery for two years. 10 She was a resident at the 11 Intensive Residential Women's Service in Gowanda, 12 which, unfortunately, is now closed. 13 She is pursuing her college education, and 14 she's a recovery coach. 15 So, congratulations to you, Amanda, for 16 turning things around. 17 And we'd like to hear today your personal 18 story so that we can fully understand what happened 19 to you. 20 AMANDA FERO: Okay, my name is Amanda Fero, 21 and I've been in recovery for 18 months, actually. 22 I grew up in an alcoholic and addicted 23 family, and, basically, I thought that it was okay 24 to be that way. 25 When I was about 18, I started to use opiate 1 drugs. And when I was 22, is when I realized that 2 I couldn't live without them; that I had to use them 3 to feel normal. 4 I was in a lot of trouble due to my 5 addiction. 6 And when I actually told on myself, to get 7 help, I went to a detox center, and they told me 8 that because I was three days not using, that 9 I didn't need help. 10 So, I actually went out and overdosed, and 11 I had to get court-mandated to get treatment. 12 I went through a 28-day program after that, 13 and I still thought that I may need more intensive 14 treatment. And, they told me that I was okay to do 15 outpatient. 16 Again, my addiction went at its worst, and 17 I started to do heroin. 18 And, thankfully, actually, I got arrested 19 again, and my probation officer and the judge made a 20 plan with me to get intensive. 21 So, again, it had to be court-mandated 22 because there was no other way that I was going to 23 get the treatment. 24 I did eight months' inpatient at the Gowanda 25 TLC, and it saved my life. It help me turn my life 1 around. 2 So... 3 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Amanda. 4 I know that you grew up in a home that had 5 addiction problems. 6 But, were there friends -- or, how did you 7 first become introduced to drugs? 8 Was it through school? through friends? 9 How did that happen to you? 10 AMANDA FERO: It was through friends, that 11 I started to drink with friends, and then it turned 12 into other drugs, like marijuana. 13 And around 18 is when I started to do 14 prescription medication. And that was through my 15 friends who had them, who were selling them on the 16 streets. 17 SENATOR YOUNG: And when you got into heroin, 18 how did that happen? 19 Where did you get the heroin from, basically? 20 Or, how -- was it easily accessible? 21 AMANDA FERO: Yes. 22 The same people that I was doing prescription 23 medication with, when that was all gone, that was 24 the last option, was heroin. And that's why 25 I started to do heroin, because I was -- I was sick 1 and I felt like my body needed it. 2 So, that's why I started to do heroin after 3 that. 4 SENATOR YOUNG: Uh-huh. 5 Did you want to ask? 6 SENATOR BOYLE: That's quite a common story, 7 unfortunately, around the state. But -- but I'm 8 glad that you saw it and got the recovery. 9 One of things we've seen is the fact that 10 people actually have to get arrested and go into the 11 criminal justice system just to get the treatment 12 they need. 13 And that's one of the things we're looking to 14 change. 15 SENATOR YOUNG: Any other questions? 16 I want to thank you, Amanda, for being here 17 today to share your story, because it's very 18 positive from the standpoint that, by sharing your 19 story, you can give us great direction as to what 20 needs to be changed. 21 And, I want to thank you for your courage, 22 and thank you for your participation today, because 23 it really, really is very, very helpful. 24 So, thank you for that. 25 AMANDA FERO: Thank you. 1 [Applause.] 2 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very much. 3 Senator Maziarz, again. 4 I just want to take this opportunity to 5 introduce our next speaker who I've become very, 6 very close with. 7 As Avi Israel stated earlier, Avi and his 8 wife, Julie, who is also here today, lost their son 9 Michael three years ago on this very day as a result 10 of addiction to prescription painkillers. 11 And Avi has worked very closely with 12 Senator Young, Senator Gallivan, myself, 13 Senator Grisanti, and Senator Ranzenhofer, from 14 Western New York, to pass I-STOP legislation, but 15 that was only the first step. 16 And, Avi, we know you have given the rest of 17 your life to -- to this particular challenge, and we 18 thank you very much for being here. 19 AVI ISRAEL: Thank you, Senator Maziarz. 20 I want to thank everybody that's here. 21 I want to thank you, President Snyder, for 22 holding this forum. 23 Three years ago today, 10:05 a.m., after 24 repeatedly asking for help, my boy Michael went into 25 the back bedroom, put a shotgun under his chin, and 1 took his life. 2 There's nothing -- there's no pain like it in 3 this world, there's nothing that can compare -- to 4 the pain of holding your son while he's taking his 5 last breath. 6 But the questions that I think we want to get 7 to over here, is really: 8 How did Michael get there? 9 How did Michael ended up with no choices but 10 to take his life? 11 So I'll tell you. 12 Michael was prescribed into addiction by 13 doctors who are just like every doctor in this 14 country, are really uneducated when it comes to 15 painkillers. 16 You can go see a dentist, and he'll give you 17 30 pills. 18 You can go see a general practitioners, and 19 he'll give you 90 pills. 20 And so on and so on. 21 And people will -- may not use all of them, 22 leave them into a medicine cabinet. And the next 23 thing, the kids grab them, and have a skittles 24 party. 25 This epidemic, whether we want to admit it or 1 not, has started with the medical community. 2 Somewhere down the line, a doctor, a prescriber, 3 wrote a prescription for painkillers. 4 And, we cannot arrest our way out of this, we 5 cannot treat our way out of this, until we start 6 educating everybody involved. 7 And by that I mean, we have to start with 8 prescribers. 9 We have to make sure that every prescriber 10 who prescribes opiates, know the consequences of 11 those pills, knows how to recognize addiction; not 12 eight months down the road. We want it to be 13 recognized early. 14 We don't have enough facilities to treat the 15 people who get addicted. There's nowhere. 16 Nobody is going to -- nobody is going to 17 invest in facilities because there's no profit in 18 there, so everything falls into the hands of us, the 19 citizens and the State. 20 Very simple things: 21 We have legislation to educate doctors. 22 The next thing we need to do is do what we 23 did in Western New York over here, and educate our 24 young ones. 25 This is a school curriculum which was 1 developed by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and WNED. 2 It tells you about opiates; 3 It tells you the consequences of opiates; 4 It tells you how to avoid some of them; 5 And it tells parents how to recognize, and 6 teachers how to recognize, the problem. 7 Blue Cross and Blue Shield, with the help of 8 every TV station and every media outlet in the 9 Buffalo area, has ran a three-months campaign, which 10 I'm sure some of you have saw the billboards and saw 11 the commercials on TV. 12 What drove them into it was not me going in 13 there and banging on the table that you didn't treat 14 my son. 15 What drove them into it is the fact that 16 there's so many young kids who are dying, and 17 something has had to be done. 18 Every day -- and this is not my words. 19 These are -- this is a survey that was taken 20 by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. 21 Every day in this country, 2,000 kids take 22 prescription pills. 23 Every day in this country, 100 people die of 24 overdose. 25 Every day in this country, 16,600 die. 1 That's a small village that disappears every 2 year. 3 In 4 years of war -- and 10 years of war, 4 I should say, in Iraq, we lost a little over 5 10,000 people. 6 We quadruple that every year in this country. 7 We passed a great legislation two years ago 8 called "I-STOP." It slowed down the 9 overprescribing, but, unfortunately, some doctors 10 are still feel like: I don't want you to call me 11 over the weekend so I'm going prescribe you 30 pills 12 to take home for a root canal. 13 In that I-STOP, we have two provisions that 14 have never been mandated. 15 One of them is doctor education. 16 That has to be. 17 In order for us to treat the millions of 18 people who are in the pipeline, we have to stop the 19 flow of new addicts into this pipeline. 20 We can only do that by education. 21 You cannot arrest a kid that has a 22 prescription bottle in his pocket, that is 23 prescribed to him. There's nothing in the law that 24 says he can't take it. 25 But as a moral obligation by doctors who 1 should know what happens with this prescription. 2 There's the moral obligations for every 3 prescriber. 4 There's the moral obligations for insurance 5 companies to provide for insurance. 6 And there's the moral obligations for all of 7 us sitting in this room, to participate and make 8 sure that we don't lose, like the president said, 9 our next generation. 10 We lose the next generation, we are going to 11 lose our future. 12 Nothing is going to bring my son back. 13 Nothing. 14 There's a hole that Julie and I and my 15 daughter Rachel will have to live with for the rest 16 of our life. 17 What we can do here is make sure that there's 18 no more Michaels. 19 Thank you. 20 [Applause.] 21 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you very much. 22 SANDRA HILL: My name is Sandra Hill, and I'm 23 a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians. 24 And I'm here to talk about my daughter 25 Michelle. She was a heroin addict. 1 And, actually, you know, I always thought it 2 was something that I did wrong. 3 And -- this is difficult. 4 And it's just, you know, like Avi, there's a 5 lot of pain for a parent, when they have to wait 6 every day for that phone call to come, and to worry 7 every night that -- that the end is going to come 8 soon. 9 And I really want to commend President Snyder 10 for taking a stand and saying enough is enough. 11 We're going to do Seneca Strong. And I've 12 waited for that for 4 years, because she passed away 13 on May 21st of 2010 at the age of 37 years old. 14 She was a really wonderful girl. She was 15 intelligent. She was college-educated. She was 16 bright. She was bubbly. And everybody loved her. 17 And she couldn't -- and, again, like Avi, she 18 started out with prescription medication. 19 She had an abscessed tooth, and she got 20 three months of painkillers. 21 And, of course, and I said: What are you 22 going to do with all that? 23 She goes: Oh, I'm not taking them. 24 But she did, because also with that, she was 25 using marijuana. 1 So -- in her later years, she met a guy, and 2 she was madly in love with this guy. And he, too, 3 was a heroin addict. 4 And one day he said: You want to feel even 5 better, take this needle. 6 And she did it. 7 And ever since then, it was a world of hell 8 for her, her family, and her friends. 9 And I tried to do the tough-love thing. 10 It did not work, because -- and it's just, 11 like, you can never give up on your child. 12 And even considering coming here, it's, like, 13 am I going to exploit her, or am I going to be 14 helpful by telling her story? 15 And I thought -- and the reason I say that is 16 because, shortly after her passing, I got a call 17 from Suzette Brown, who is Katie Couric's executive 18 producer, and she asked me if I was willing to talk 19 about what happened, because she saw my daughter on 20 the news, and she saw me on the news. 21 And because -- and I said, Well, let me think 22 about it. 23 And I thought, Well, I don't want to exploit 24 her to the world on a television program, but they 25 wanted to talk about the mother's pain. 1 And I didn't do that. 2 And even asking to come here today, 3 I thought, Well, I don't want to exploit her. 4 But, through her heroin addiction, 5 I started -- I quit supporting her. And I thought, 6 Well, maybe that will help. 7 It did not help, so I bring her back. We 8 sent her to five rehabs. 9 And, like, if you want -- if a person is 10 saying, "Okay, I'm ready today. I will get help 11 today," and you go try to seek help, you can't get 12 it today. 13 "Oh, come back in two weeks." 14 "Oh, fill out these medical forms." 15 Or, do this and do that. 16 And it's just -- and it's just, like -- it's 17 just a runaround. 18 And then, two days later, they're back on the 19 streets, back using. 20 She was a beautiful girl, and she ended up on 21 the streets of Buffalo in a Puerto Rican section so 22 she could get her drugs. 23 And then because she didn't have the money, 24 she couldn't work, she couldn't do anything, she 25 started stealing. 1 So in the end, she became the notorious 2 person that was robbing churches. So that was all 3 over the media in Buffalo, that she was stealing 4 from churches. 5 And on the news, they had a video of her from 6 a convenience store. And I thought, Oh, my God, 7 that's my daughter. 8 And I thought: Well, maybe this is chance to 9 save her. Maybe this is the chance that I need to 10 turn her in, and she will go to prison, and she will 11 get clean, and everything will be fine. 12 And, so, that's what I did. 13 And with the help of Brian Mohr, we did take 14 her in, and then I hired an attorney. 15 And I hired this attorney, not to get her 16 out, but to keep her in there so she could be able 17 to dry out, and then later go to drug court and get 18 some help. 19 And, so, we went through the whole nine yards 20 there. 21 And then after they did send her to drug 22 court, she did get out. And she just couldn't -- 23 I guess she just couldn't make it, and she just left 24 the rehabilitation center that they sent her to, and 25 she just disappeared. 1 She says, "Mom, I am never going back to 2 prison again." 3 And it was very tragic of what happened to 4 her. 5 On the 21st -- on her -- her birthday was on 6 May 17th. And I told her, I says, Come and talk to 7 me. 8 She says, I don't want to go back to prison. 9 I said, you don't have to. Just come and 10 talk to me. 11 And we spent the whole day together. 12 And then -- and then -- that was on a 13 Thursday. 14 And then the next day, I got the phone call, 15 and they said: Your daughter had an accident. 16 And I thought, Oh, no, what had happened to 17 her? 18 And, actually, it was a Cattaraugus County 19 sheriff. He was very rude. He was very -- he said: 20 Well, you'll have to call the marshals. They'll 21 tell you. 22 And I was, like, Okay. 23 So I called the marshals, and they were very 24 helpful. 25 But what had happened is that, somehow, there 1 was -- on the west side of Buffalo, she was hit by a 2 train, and it really brutalized her, and it really 3 tore her to pieces. 4 Even when we brought her home, there was 5 hardly anything left of her. 6 And, it was a terrible experience for a 7 mother to go through this. As with Avi, you can't 8 imagine the pain and the hurt. 9 And so, again, and even at that time, I said: 10 Why doesn't somebody do something about this? Why 11 doesn't someone be there to help? 12 And that's why I commend the president for 13 taking a stand. 14 And I am glad he said, "I am declaring a war 15 on drugs and alcohol," because we have needed this 16 for a long time, because it's not going to get 17 better. It's going to get worse. 18 It's a big business. Heroin is only $5 for a 19 little hit. 20 And all the kids just -- they have $5, they 21 will do it. 22 In Salamanca, I understand there was 23 three overdoses in the past few weeks. 24 And somebody has to take a stand on this. 25 I don't know what the answer is. 1 And, again, we need treatment centers, and we 2 need aftercare centers, which we don't have. 3 And being this, and helping with this, I am a 4 strong advocate to help end this heroin and opiate 5 addiction. 6 I will do anything to help another kid. 7 And, you know, I'm doing it for my daughter. 8 And, actually, I'm doing it for my peace of 9 mind, also. 10 I couldn't save her, but maybe I can save 11 someone else. 12 And I thank you for allowing me to tell my 13 story, and to be here. 14 [Applause.]. 15 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you very much, Sandy, 16 for sharing. We truly appreciate it very, very 17 much. 18 As you can see, we have color-coding around 19 the table, and, we have different experts in 20 different topic areas, and the first has to deal 21 with health treatment. 22 I feel that the first three speakers gave 23 excellent lead-ins into talking about some of the 24 health issues, and so I'd like to have the experts 25 chime in, and I have a lead-in question: 1 The health-care's role in addressing this 2 epidemic is vital to discuss. 3 Families are struggling, as we've heard, to 4 find a place for their loved ones in treatment 5 facilities, and often run into issues with insurance 6 companies providing the resources needed to afford 7 these services. 8 Hospitals, EMS providers, and recovery 9 services all have seen significant spikes in demand 10 for these services. 11 And so to the providers who are here today, 12 what can we do to help these families? 13 And, you know, I'd just open it up. Anyone 14 who feels like sharing, just grab the microphone and 15 let's begin the discussion. 16 Pat. 17 PATRICIA MUNSON: Pat Munson, 18 Chautauqua Alcohol and Substance Abuse Council. 19 We're a prevention agency through OASAS, and 20 I firmly believe prevention will help address those 21 problems, with the hospital having fewer people come 22 for the services. 23 But looking at prevention over the 24 30-some years I've been in the field, right now, I'm 25 most hopeful, looking at the evidenced-based 1 prevention practices that are targeted to audiences 2 and have been tested to show that they work. And 3 there are a variety of strategies that could be 4 used. 5 But I'm a big believer in getting the 6 prevention efforts out there in the schools and the 7 communities and the families. 8 You can't just do prevention in the schools 9 with the students. You need to have -- I envision 10 this big ball with everything inside of it, because 11 everything affects everything. 12 The families, the youth, the schools, working 13 with the elders, working with the traditions, that's 14 all part of getting prevention going, and then 15 moving into other areas. 16 So, prevention will help with the hospitals 17 and health, but, I can't speak to some of the other 18 things with that. 19 SENATOR YOUNG: Pat, when you talk about 20 evidenced-based prevention, what are the types of 21 activities or approaches that seem to work? 22 PAT MUNSON: There is a list on SAMHSA, and 23 NREP (National Repository of Evidenced-Based 24 Programs), that talk about what the target group is 25 and what this program does. 1 I did -- just as an example, in our agency, 2 we use life-skills training and a few other ones 3 that have impact for what we're doing in early 4 prevention. 5 I did look at something on the Internet 6 yesterday, and an example from NREP is 7 Family Spirit. It's a culturally-tailored 8 home-program intervention for Native American 9 teenage mothers who experience high rates of 10 substance use and school dropout. 11 Another one is not on tobacco, school-based 12 smoking cessation. 13 Red Cliff Wellness school curriculum. 14 And, Say It Straight communication program 15 designed to help students and empower communication 16 skills. 17 Because, prevention education isn't just 18 saying no. It's providing a rounding of services, 19 especially with the youth, to teach them things like 20 social-skills. 21 Media: looking at media with critical 22 messages. 23 What's the media telling you when you see 24 vodka, with all these beautiful women saying this is 25 the best vodka, and giving to youth, that's a good 1 idea. Or the beer. 2 So, there are a number of tailored programs 3 that you want to look at, based on your target 4 audience. 5 And that's the critical wording: your target 6 audience, and what the problem is. 7 You don't want to do a program that doesn't 8 address the target audience: their age group, their 9 culture. You have to look at it all in one package 10 to get what's been proven to be best. 11 And it's 20 years of research, so I firmly 12 believe in that, because I've been at this job since 13 1986 and I've seen it all come and go; Just Say No, 14 all of those other things. 15 But this is the one; the evidenced-based 16 programs I feel are the best. 17 So -- 18 SENATOR YOUNG: Thanks, Pat. 19 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you very much. 20 That leads me to ask a question of the 21 students here. 22 They were talking about education prevention 23 in the schools. 24 What -- any of the students, please chime in. 25 What are you experiencing in the schools? 1 What kind of programs have you gotten, if 2 any, antidrug and anti-addiction, in your classes? 3 And, what works? 4 We've heard different, around the state, 5 peer-to-peer is good. Someone holding -- getting a 6 lesson from someone your own age or around your own 7 age. 8 And if you'd like to comment, we'd truly 9 appreciate it. 10 SENATOR YOUNG: Any -- okay, let's -- could 11 we get you closer to the mic? Because we really 12 want to hear what you have to say. 13 ASHLEY CARNES: Early in our middle-school 14 career we had D.A.R.E., and that was helpful. But 15 at that age, we weren't really aware of what was 16 really happening, and how it would actually occur 17 when we were older, to people that we know and 18 people in our community. 19 And I feel like we should have more programs 20 as we go further in our education, such as in 21 high school. 22 We do have programs, such as S.A.D.D., like, 23 Students Against Drunk Driving, but we don't really 24 have any of the drug-prevention programs or 25 education programs that are required, as S.A.D.D. is 1 just kind of like an extracurricular program. 2 SENATOR YOUNG: Does it work when students 3 talk to other students about these issues? What -- 4 or is it when adults give you guidance? 5 Or, how -- what works best, do you feel, in 6 the schools? 7 GABRIELLA HOOSE: I feel that having students 8 talk to other students works better than having 9 adults talk to the students, because the students 10 can relate better to their students, like, their 11 peers. 12 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 13 Any of the other students want to say 14 anything? 15 That's okay. 16 A STUDENT (name unknown): This year I took 17 health, and we had someone from Kids Escaping Drugs 18 come to -- 19 Do you want me to start over? 20 Okay. 21 This year I took health, and we had someone 22 from Kids Escaping Drugs come to our thing -- our 23 class. And, like, we had people who were, like, 24 addicted, and, like, got over their things, come and 25 talk to us. 1 And I thought that was helpful, because it 2 was, like -- I don't know what to say -- because -- 3 there's so much pressure. 4 SENATOR YOUNG: You could relate better to 5 other students; right? 6 A STUDENT (name unknown): Yeah, because, 7 like, when -- I know what I was going to say now. 8 Because, when the teachers are, like, telling 9 you not to do it, like, you're, like, Well, you 10 never did it, and anything like that. 11 But when these come and tell you, like, what 12 was going on with their lives, and everything, and 13 then it just makes you, like, not want to have to go 14 down through all their -- what they were going 15 through. 16 So -- 17 SENATOR YOUNG: Good, good. Thank you. 18 Okay, anybody else? 19 CHEYANNE NEUBAUER: I don't know, like -- 20 okay. 21 My bad. 22 Like, yeah, we had people, like, come into 23 our school and do, like -- like, go in the 24 auditorium and, like, do, like, speeches, and tell 25 us, like, how bad drugs were. 1 But in my opinion, like, I don't feel like 2 that actually helps us. 3 Like, yeah, talking to other students does 4 make effect on people, because, for me, like, if 5 I was to talk to someone, like, they would be, like, 6 Yeah, I want to help you. And, like, they went and 7 told, like, a teacher, and then the teacher would 8 talk to me. And it would, like, get in my head that 9 people actually do care. 10 Like -- I don't know, it's weird. Like, 11 having someone care really, like, shows that, like, 12 they're trying to help you. 13 So, like, to me, that's -- I feel that 14 teachers and other, like, adults that you talk to 15 actually want to help you, unlike other people. 16 So it's, like -- I don't know, it's like 17 in between there. 18 SENATOR YOUNG: Good, great. Thank you. 19 Thank you. 20 Just to follow up, then, with the health 21 people -- 22 And I want to thank the students for 23 contributing. 24 -- to the providers of the treatment 25 services, you know, again, what else can we do to 1 help people who are addicted? 2 Yes. 3 JODIE ALTMAN: I'm Jodie Altman. I'm from 4 Renaissance Addiction Services. 5 And, thank you, because we are Kids Escaping 6 Drugs. 7 Things that I know and I've said at -- in 8 Batavia, when Senator Boyle was there, was the issue 9 with Medicaid. 10 Right now, our kids are carved out of 11 Medicaid, which means Medicaid will cover their 12 treatment. 13 January of 2016, that may cease to exist. 14 What will then happen is that it will, 15 effectively, shut down our treatment, because a 16 15-year-old who puts needles in his arms every day 17 will be given seven days of treatment versus the 18 five to six months of treatment that they get right 19 now. 20 It will shut down treatment, it will kill our 21 kids. 22 So that's the one big issue, from a provider 23 perspective, that anybody that will listen to me, 24 I will say. 25 The other piece is that, I agree with Avi, 1 that our docs need to know, from the get-go, they 2 don't need to be prescribing these kids 30 pills 3 because they get their wisdom teeth out. 4 And the third thing, from a treatment 5 perspective, and our facility is 12- to 6 20-year-olds, and it's residential, is that we have 7 no detox for the 12- to 17-year-olds who are using 8 just as much heroin or opiate prescription pills as 9 the 50-year-olds, but can't get the medical services 10 because somebody somewhere says they don't need 11 them. 12 [Applause.] 13 JODIE ALTMAN: Thanks. 14 I can say, I've been doing this 27 years, we 15 have buried kids. And there's nothing worse than to 16 see a kid that we couldn't help, because they were 17 so violently ill from withdrawal, and I couldn't 18 send them anywhere, and said, "Well, you got to go 19 home, ride it out, and then come back," end up dead. 20 It's a real tough pill to swallow. 21 So, thank you. 22 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you very much. 23 Anyone else? 24 Dr. Lamothe? 25 Oh, I'm sorry. 1 LAURA ELLIOTT-ENGEL: Unintended 2 consequences, I think that, really -- 3 SENATOR YOUNG: This is Laura Elliot-Engel 4 from the Addiction Recovery Services in 5 Cattaraugus County. 6 LAURA ELLIOT-ENGEL: Thank you. 7 And thank you for the opportunity to be here. 8 SENATOR YOUNG: Closer. 9 LAURA ELLIOTT-ENGEL: Closer? 10 SENATOR YOUNG: Yep. 11 LAURA ELLIOTT-ENGEL: How am I now? 12 SENATOR YOUNG: Yes, that's better. 13 LAURA ELLIOT-ENGEL: She shines. 14 The opportunity to be here is really 15 important. 16 And many of us across the state truly 17 appreciate the effort that you put into effect, 18 Senator Boyle. 19 The I-STOP legislation had some unintended 20 consequences, which we all know; which is, that it 21 made access to legal opiates much more difficult and 22 it drove people to the streets. 23 So I really encourage people to take a look 24 at that lack of closure. 25 And if that's in the works, then, halleluiah! 1 In terms of addicted families, the best 2 prevention is when recovery enters into a family 3 system. 4 So if you have both parents in recovery, then 5 they're raising their children differently. 6 And so that raises the question: Well, how 7 do people get to that place called "recovery"? 8 The truly wise and real and bottom line for 9 folks who are seeking help is what Sandy's told us, 10 and that is, when someone is ready, there has to be 11 a place for people to be able to get the help they 12 need. 13 To have to meet level-of-care criteria 14 established by somebody outside of the profession is 15 morally and reprehensibly wrong. 16 So I'm very encouraged about what's going on 17 with access to treatment with qualified health 18 professional, addiction specialists, who can make 19 some of those determinations. 20 We're in a tough struggle with managed care 21 because we know that's the way the dollars are going 22 to drive this. 23 So let's be smart. 24 The reality that's happened within 25 New York State with financial commitments from the 1 state level shrink and shrink and shrink. 2 I had ten prevention staff specialists in 3 2008. I now have four. 4 Pat from Chautauqua is struggling with the 5 same thing. I mean, we could just go agency by 6 agency. 7 And, finally, something that we just have not 8 done at all well in New York State is a real, clear, 9 identified investment in community-based 10 recovery-support services. 11 What that means is, that you may have a 12 recovery coach, which Amanda has just trained to 13 become, available at a drug court, to walk with 14 somebody out of that place and to a safe harbor, 15 like a coffee shop. Right? 16 Or, walking out of Cattaraugus County Jail 17 connected with somebody who's going to help them 18 bridge. 19 Filling gaps between when we don't have a bed 20 for treatment, but you've got somebody in the 21 community who's there to walk with that person and 22 help them identify their own goals. 23 We can learn something from our partner 24 agency, OMH, because they have stood up recovery 25 community centers. And I know that's going through 1 changes, too. 2 But let's look at what's happening at that 3 level, as well. 4 There's a brass-tacks policy academy with a 5 white paper coming out at the end of 2014, where 6 we've cross-walked mental health and addictions, to 7 take a look at what we can do together about peer 8 supports. 9 And so I'm very hopeful about what that may 10 give us in terms of information. 11 And finally I would say that -- and I've 12 known -- I mean, I've been in my own personal 13 recovery, actually, was 39 years ago yesterday. 14 And because of that foundation, I've been 15 able to achieve a few things, not the least of which 16 is being the parent to two wonderful children who 17 have been raised in recovery. 18 And since the time that I first asked for 19 help, one thing I know, is that physicians still 20 only get about five hours of addiction education, in 21 quotes, in a four-year medical-degree program. 22 So then we say they should know something 23 better about what they're doing when they're in the 24 office. 25 Well -- so we have something there that we-- 1 I don't know if this is something we can address. 2 Prevention begins with awareness. 3 Awareness begins with some openness. 4 And we have to have availability to 5 information, and multiple ways to repeat the message 6 for it to take hold. 7 Thank you. 8 [Applause.] 9 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you, Laura. 10 And, Laura -- 11 AVI ISRAEL: Can I say something from a 12 parent point of view, please? 13 When Michael told us that he was addicted, my 14 wife and I had no clue what he was talking about. 15 And I'm going back again to the point of 16 education. 17 And the same thing with the young folks, 18 we've been going into schools, and I find that a lot 19 of the young folks relate better to somebody younger 20 who have been through it. 21 But to get back to the parents, you know, 22 three years ago, nobody talked about addiction. 23 Three years ago, nobody has said anything. 24 Three years ago, if you said you're addicted 25 to pills, that was a myth. 1 Today it's a reality. 2 When we -- when it comes to education and 3 providing services, I have -- I was -- I found, 4 three years ago, that I was a complete idiot. I had 5 no clue what to look for. And I could not find a 6 place for Michael to go into. Nothing. 7 And when -- on his last day, when he was 8 begging for help, this is knowing -- this is 9 knowing -- his councilor knowing that this kid had 10 Chron's Disease, weighed 107 pounds, and had an 11 ileostomy bag, did not provide him anything, so his 12 only way out was to take his life. 13 What we need to look at, really, is when it 14 comes to education, we need to educate the public as 15 a whole, and we need to educate the parents, as to 16 what to look for and what to go to. 17 We need agencies, you know, that a parent can 18 go and say: Please, I think my son is addicted. 19 What do I do? 20 We had so many conflicting reports about: 21 You need to change the locks in the house. You need 22 to give the kid tough love. 23 You know what? And pardon me, that's all BS. 24 [Applause.] 25 AVI ISRAEL: It's all BS, because, you know 1 what my son wanted in the first place? 2 He wanted a hug. He wanted somebody to hold 3 him and said, I love you Michael, and I'm there with 4 you. 5 And that's what we need to do. 6 We can't push this kids out into the street 7 and says, That you're bad. 8 You know what? Michael was ashamed of being 9 addicted. 10 There's a shame that goes, there's a myth 11 that goes, on that, you know, what? You got 12 yourself into this, you get yourself out. 13 Bullshit! 14 We don't get ourselves -- nobody gets up in 15 the morning and says, Today I'm going to be an 16 addict. 17 No kid gets up and goes to school and says, 18 My career is going to be an addict. 19 Nobody does. 20 Nobody abuses drug until they get addicted. 21 That's another God damn word that I had, 22 there's "abusing." 23 Nobody abuses anything until they get 24 addicted. 25 You know? 1 You know, as for I-STOP, I want to tell you 2 something. 3 I've heard a lot of reports about I-STOP. 4 I-STOP is a great legislation. 5 I-STOP has slowed down the prescription drug. 6 I want you all to keep in mind what this kids 7 are going into. 8 They're not going into crack. 9 They're not going into heroin -- to, uhm 10 cocaine. 11 They're using the same kind of drug: an 12 opiate. 13 It's the same thing. 14 And you know why? It's cheaper, you know. 15 In order to build a house, you have to lay a 16 good foundation down, you know. 17 We started with I-STOP. 18 We need to educate the doctors. 19 We need to educate the public. 20 We need to provide support for every parents 21 who's asking for -- for help. 22 We need to provide help for this kids, 23 because the window of opportunity is so small. 24 And in my case, it took 5 minutes and 25 40 seconds between "Help!" and a shotgun going off. 1 And we need to keep that in mind. 2 [Applause.] 3 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you, Avi. 4 And I would simply remark that, part of the 5 things we're trying to get out of these forums is to 6 change the stigma of addiction. 7 And through things like the visionary 8 leadership of President Snyder in holding these 9 forums, we can say that, as a parent, you might say 10 "My child has cancer," and what's the reaction? 11 "Oh, my God, how can I help?" 12 Well, we'd like to see, after these forums, 13 that a parent says, My child is addicted," "Oh, my 14 God, how can I do to help?" 15 No shame involved whatsoever. 16 AVI ISRAEL: That would help great. 17 That would be a great help. 18 SENATOR BOYLE: No question. 19 Quickly, regarding the insurance issue, we 20 are going to address this, without a doubt. 21 We're going to take the decision-making out 22 of the insurance companies' hands and leave it in 23 the hands of -- 24 [Applause.] 25 SENATOR BOYLE: One of the things we've 1 found, is that we're not going to have anymore 2 "fail first," and then come -- then get in 3 treatment. 4 Because, failure, in many of these cases, God 5 forbid, is the loss of a life. We've seen it over 6 and over again. 7 And another one is an expedited appeals 8 process in the insurance. And while the appeals 9 process is going on, treatment will still be 10 provided. 11 I think that's very important. 12 And thank you for your insights on that. 13 [Applause.] 14 SENATOR YOUNG: Dr. Lamothe. 15 DR. HENRI LAMOTHE: Thank you very much, 16 Mr. Snyder and company, and all the Senators, and 17 everybody here at the table. 18 I'm an emergency room physician, and 19 I represent a window of opportunity for an entire 20 county to come to my ER door and say: I need more 21 pain medicine. You know, I ran out. Or, I don't 22 have enough. Or, I still hurt. 23 So we prescribe a lot of pain medications 24 when we think it's warranted. 25 However, over the last several years, there's 1 been some significant change that has helped curbed 2 the individual that seeks more pain medication. 3 For instance, every physician in the 4 emergency room has access now to a database that 5 tells us whether the Patient A went to Dr. X 6 yesterday, Emergency Room Y three hours ago, and 7 what medication were prescribed. 8 That helps us stop it at the ED level. 9 In addition to that, we have developed pain 10 policies. 11 We will not give you more than three or 12 four tablets. 13 We will not give you more than three or 14 four tablets. And repeated visits will make it such 15 that we will not give you anymore narcotics if we 16 see that you've been here 17 times over the last 17 week, or two weeks, or three months, or through 18 several hospitals. 19 So we have made significant stride at curbing 20 the propagation of prescribing opiates. 21 As a matter of fact, what we prescribe is 22 medication to keep them from going through 23 withdrawals. 24 You are right, there are opportunities out 25 there, where physicians need to be educated about 1 prescribing medications over and over again. 2 You are absolutely correct, there needs to be 3 more education on the doctors' part. 4 We see it in the emergency department. 5 The primary-care sector needs to be more 6 educated. And there's some potential answers for 7 that. 8 I saw a lady who came to the emergency room, 9 citing that she had neck pain and she was disabled 10 since she was age 20. She was, at that time, 40. 11 She took, based on her, quote/unquote, 12 prescription, 350 milligrams of morphine a day. 13 I looked at her and I said: You're going to 14 withdraw. We don't have enough in this emergency 15 department to satisfy you on a Sunday morning. 16 So we sent her out with withdrawal 17 medications, because she will withdraw if she 18 doesn't get her fix, quote/unquote. 19 Unfortunately, abuse, addiction, also 20 dovetails into mental-health issues, which we 21 haven't talked about. But it's a significant part 22 what have we see in the emergency department. 23 There are ways in which we can educate 24 physicians. 25 Every two years, in the city of New York, you 1 need to have your license renewed. 2 In order to do that, we already impose on the 3 physicians that they need to go through an 4 infectious-disease education program. 5 Similar legislation on drug abuse: 6 Recognizing the pattern and substance abuse may help 7 educate all physicians. 8 Make it mandatory, so that their licenses 9 should be renewed upon that education program. 10 That's what we have at entry level. 11 The second way of entry level is at the 12 pharmacy level. 13 The pharmacy gives out the pills; not the 14 emergency room, not the private physicians. 15 The pharmacy should warn about the use and 16 abuse of these medication, at least on paper, 17 because those are potentially addicting drugs, 18 whether it's your first broken arm, or your 19 40th time that you went back to get it because you 20 like the way it feels, across the board. 21 So, the pharmacies, an entryway of handling 22 that problem, as well as the physician-education 23 program like we do for infectious disease every 24 two years during licensure, we should do for 25 addiction and mental-health recognition for all 1 providers. 2 That should be part of your physical health, 3 your mental health, and your behavioral health. We 4 should handle all three of those components of the 5 human being. 6 Unfortunately, the insurance program does not 7 allow for these programs to become reimbursable, 8 even though a life is at stake. 9 And those are just as important as whether or 10 not the mole on your back is a cancer or not. 11 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Doctor. 12 Thank you very much. 13 Yes. 14 DR. JUDITH FELD: Hi, I'm Dr. Judith Feld, 15 and I'm medical director of behavioral health at 16 Independent Health. 17 The first thing I want to do is thank you for 18 the opportunity to be here, and to hear from 19 everyone. 20 And, also, to recognize the courage of those 21 who have dealt with this: been in recovery, 22 struggled with this and lost loved ones. 23 Before I came to Independent Health as 24 medical director, I was a provider in the community 25 for over 20 years; so I've worked with families, 1 I've worked with people who have suffered from 2 addiction -- husbands, wives, daughters, parents. 3 And it's tragic. 4 And one thing that really, really spurred me 5 was, why can't we really -- really take care of this 6 problem? Why can't we answer it in a better way? 7 And there really were a lot of obstacles to 8 care. And as time has gone on, we've become a lot 9 more enlightened. 10 I have fought the stigma personally on 11 behavioral health and mental health for many years, 12 as well as addictions. 13 And Timothy's Act came along, and then parity 14 came along, and health reform; and this was a very 15 exciting time. 16 I decided, I'm going to leave practice and 17 I am going to really try to do this on a 18 population-health level. 19 I went and got my master's in public health, 20 and had a whole new way of thinking. 21 As a physician, every physician should have 22 that kind of training, because we don't -- we only 23 treat what's in front of us, and you don't treat a 24 population. 25 And what we're talking about is a 1 population-health problem, a population-health 2 crisis. 3 And, President Snyder, I really appreciate 4 your stating this is a community issue. 5 There's not one individual, not one 6 institution, not one area, where this -- there's a 7 real problem that has to be solved. 8 We all have to come together, because we all 9 can do better. 10 And, so, this was a wonderful time to get 11 into managed care; into really understanding how 12 health plans can change and support this. 13 Right now, we are working on an integration 14 project in primary care, to bring these kinds of 15 services within the primary-care and pediatric 16 offices so physicians can recognize this. 17 I really want to applaud all the discussion 18 today here about education. It's extremely 19 important. 20 We have to educate parents. We have to 21 educate our providers. 22 We're trying to do our part, as well, at 23 Independent Health. 24 We do have a yearly pain-management and 25 opioid-prescription forum that we put on every year, 1 and it's very well-attended. 2 And we have lots of primary-care physicians 3 coming up to us and saying: This is amazing. 4 I can't believe the consequences of what my 5 prescribing has done. 6 Let's get the dental profession on board, as 7 well. We really need to get our dentists to 8 understand. 9 I just came back from a health-care 10 transformation forum in Minnesota, and they're 11 actually now working with dentists. And that was 12 pretty exciting for us. 13 In terms of treatment, I understand what you 14 are saying about, it's -- sometimes we get turned 15 away from facilities. It's really hard, and it is 16 difficult. 17 And we have a team that looks at this, and we 18 do have level-of-care criteria, because there -- we 19 can't -- there's so much need out there. 20 There is so much need out there. 21 And from a population-health level, when we 22 take a look at some of the problems that happen, 23 some of the individuals who are -- who go into rehab 24 centers, go into inpatient treatment, they're not 25 ready for it. 1 They leave, they go back. 2 They go back in, they leave, they go back. 3 How do we stop this? 4 How do we really, really do the right thing 5 for patients? 6 And what I've learned from doing this work, 7 coming from an individual- to a population-health 8 level, I've learned that patients are very 9 individual. 10 That what works for you may not work for the 11 other individual. 12 That if someone has depression or 13 Attention Deficit Disorder, they're going to have 14 other problems along with their addiction. 15 That people may come from trauma backgrounds. 16 That our veterans are coming with all sorts 17 of problems. 18 So it's a very individual piece, and not one 19 treatment intervention does it for everybody. 20 And so, as clinicians, we have to really be 21 smart about what we're advising people to do, 22 recognizing, as the American Society of Addiction 23 Medicine will say, this is a chronic illness. 24 We almost have to anticipate that there's 25 going to be relapses, and that we have to work with 1 people on a long, longitudinal basis. 2 It's not an episodic illness. It's not like 3 a pneumonia. 4 So, we have to be sure to understand that 5 this is a long treatment planning, and that 6 engagement on longer term usually is more 7 successful. 8 And we have to be careful about, what works 9 for someone may not work for someone else. 10 The American Psychiatric Association, 11 psychiatric services, just came out with an article 12 this month, June 2014. They had done an extensive 13 literature review, and actually saw that intensive 14 outpatient services (IOPs), which we really need 15 more of, and which we would be very happy to pay 16 for, we just need more of those services, they are 17 as effective for most individuals as inpatient. 18 And I think the reason behind that, is that 19 the addicted individual gets to practice their 20 skills within the community they have to live in. 21 And one of the challenges that I've watched 22 over the years is that, when individuals get taken 23 out of their communities, they can't practice the 24 self-management skills that are so incredibly 25 important for recovery from addiction. 1 That's so significant in people's lives to be 2 able to do that. 3 That is the success of peer-support groups, 4 of AA. It's that practice; it's that going back. 5 And that's what's extremely important. Those 6 intensive outpatient services really serve that. 7 And getting better in your community is 8 really what recovery is all about. 9 Going outside the community, going outside 10 the state, you come back to the same environment. 11 And we know, biologically, that those environmental 12 cues really put you at very high risk for relapse, 13 because you're talking about changes that happen in 14 the brain over time. 15 And it takes, not just months, it takes 16 years, to really have recovery happen. And you do 17 that best within your community. 18 So, again -- 19 SENATOR YOUNG: Well, I want to thank you for 20 that, very much. And it sounds like you have a lot 21 of great information. 22 If you would like to send it to me, also, so 23 that we can include some of that in the report. 24 And I want to open that up to all the panel 25 members today who are here, if you have some more 1 specific information you would like to give to us in 2 written form, we would really appreciate that. 3 At this point, I'd like to turn to 4 law enforcement, because they've been waiting 5 patiently and sitting quietly, and we'd like to get 6 their perspective on what they've been doing to 7 address this issue: What works? What doesn't work? 8 And how can we tackle this? 9 Because, there's a health impact, there's an 10 educational impact, but, also, there's a criminal 11 impact from the standpoint that, oftentimes, there 12 are not just people on the streets selling these 13 drugs, but people robbing, stealing, do other 14 crimes, in order to support their habits. 15 So, if we could hear from law enforcement at 16 this point, that would be great. 17 Sheriff Whitcomb. 18 SHERIFF TIMOTHY WHITCOMB: Well, thank you, 19 and thank you for the invitation to be here. 20 It's important to point out, I think, from my 21 perspective, that, this is my 25th year in law 22 enforcement, and this is my second term as Sheriff, 23 so I'm currently in my fifth year as Sheriff. 24 Prior to that, the majority of my career was 25 spent, not as an administrator, but feet on the 1 ground, and doing a variety of things in law 2 enforcement. 3 And I don't think I ran into heroin during 4 the first decade of my career. It was nonexistent. 5 And I agree with some of the other people 6 that have spoken here at what fostered its growth, 7 and it was the overprescription of painkilling pills 8 and people became addicted. And heroin has had an 9 opportunity to have a resurgence that's been 10 frightening at its pace. 11 In law enforcement, we protect and serve. 12 And the interesting thing about the sheriffs 13 to my left and myself is, our office as Sheriff, we 14 don't just protect and serve the community, but we 15 also house county jails. We have to also take care 16 of our incarcerated inmates that get sentenced. 17 And at some point, our justice system has a 18 battle with when we identify people on the street 19 that are using drugs or dealing drugs. And there's 20 a difference between the two. 21 In my five years as a sheriff, I can say to 22 you, conservatively, I've put some numbers together 23 to try to give you a snapshot of what I've seen in 24 five years: 25 We have a 150-bed facility. 1 Yesterday, when I took our numbers, we had 2 142 inmates. And for all intents and purposes, that 3 means the hotel is full. 4 All right, 142 inmates. 5 Of those inmates, 23 were female, which is a 6 high number for us. The maximum number of females 7 we can house is 28. 8 Of the 23 female-inmate population, we have, 9 80 percent are dependent upon opiate. 10 Of that 80 percent, 50 percent are 11 noncustodial parents. 12 All of the 80 percent are under the 13 age of 30. 14 Slowly, in my time as an administrator, I've 15 seen the county jail become a place of a 16 correctional institution for people who have 17 committed crimes or violent crimes that need to be 18 segregated and protected from society, into a 19 treatment facility, which is not what it's intended 20 to do. 21 And we do not have the resources to match 22 this resurgence of epidemic of heroin. 23 When I became Sheriff, we had one 24 mental-health nurse, one medical-health nurse, and 25 two part-time medical-health nurses. 1 We are currently struggling with our 2 legislative body to fill additional roles so that we 3 can satisfy the mental-health needs and the 4 dependent -- abusive dependent problems that our 5 inmates are presenting every day. And it's a 6 struggle. 7 Last year, for example, another statistic 8 would -- which I would share with you, that seven of 9 the female inmate dependent on opiates that we 10 housed were pregnant. 11 Immediately, those are a very high-risk 12 inmate for to us take care of. 13 And, quite frankly, in many cases, that we 14 have been, historically, ill-equipped to take care 15 of. 16 And the interesting thing is, is when you 17 talk to people who have made recovery, oftentimes 18 they point to the point of arrest at being the 19 catalyst that got them into the treatment that they 20 needed. 21 And, so, I think we're an important cog. 22 I take my hat off to the Seneca Nation 23 because, in my first term, they approached me, as 24 they identified a problem on reservation 25 territories, and wanted to know what we could do to 1 assist them. 2 And I will tell you that our initial offer to 3 them was: Why don't you help us pay for an 4 undercover investigator to help us fight the war. 5 And their response was much better than our 6 offer. 7 Their response was: We don't want to just be 8 reactive to the people that are addicted and to be 9 reactive against the people that are dealing, but we 10 want to help educate. 11 And I believe that knowledge is power. 12 I agree with -- again, with some of the 13 things that other people have said. 14 And because of that meeting, we have 15 two school resource officers in Gowanda and 16 Salamanca, from Cattaraugus County. 17 And we also have funding that helps us 18 allocate towards reactive roles in 19 Cattaraugus County, that we have started seeing the 20 benefits from. And I report to the council 21 quarterly. 22 I take my hat off to them because they 23 identified a problem, they brought it to us, they 24 helped us identify resources to attack it. 25 Now, our inmate population at our jail, as 1 I mentioned, we had 142 inmates. 2 28 to 30 percent of them are Native American. 3 Of our females, 12 to 15 percent of them, 4 historically, are Native American. 5 That's a significant percentage. 6 The Seneca Nation has an investment in 7 helping us, and they've reached out. 8 And we've -- not only did we take their hand, 9 but we've also will taken their other hand now. 10 We have a partnership that I expect to 11 continue that's going to work very well together. 12 They've taken an initiative to help us get 13 resources. 14 Law enforcement is an important role, 15 specifically sheriffs' offices, because we have an 16 inmate population that's going to go through 17 withdrawal, they're going to get clear-eyed. We're 18 going to have a moment of time to make an impact on 19 them. 20 And, quite frankly, we need the resources to 21 help us do that. 22 And we need to tap into other resources that 23 aren't necessarily there right now; in my opinion. 24 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Sheriff. 25 Anyone else? 1 [Applause.] 2 SHERIFF JOSEPH GERACE: Senator, thank you. 3 I want to praise Sheriff Whitcomb for what he 4 has said. 5 And, also, we're in the same boat. 6 Our facility is a little bigger. We can 7 hold 303. We see the same statistics. 8 But what we are frustrated by, is we are 9 regulated by the State in operation of the jail in 10 every way we turn. 11 But we now need the State to help us fund 12 these programs. 13 We are working hard on the supply-and-demand 14 issue of heroin. And there is a high demand; thus, 15 there will be a supply. 16 And we have, no pun intended, a captive 17 audience, but we don't have the resources, in some 18 cases the space, to provide the services to these 19 people that they want. 20 And we're not opposed to bringing in outside 21 agencies to assist us, but many times that's 22 difficult because they're strapped for resources as 23 well. 24 So I would ask the Senators that are here to 25 consider looking at a program that could help jails 1 across the state, because we are smaller jails. 2 You go to Suffolk where they hold 3 1500 inmates, their problem has to be off the 4 charts. 5 But we definitely are strapped for finances, 6 and need assistance to treat these individuals who 7 are in our facilities. 8 [Applause.] 9 SENATOR GALLIVAN: Either sheriff -- first, 10 I applaud both your efforts. And had the pleasure 11 of working with you and others in your department 12 during my law-enforcement career. 13 But can you be more specific about the 14 programs where you need the help, the types of 15 programs? 16 What types of programs? 17 SHERIFF JOSEPH GERACE: Well, let me just -- 18 I've got to continue to refer to "Sheriff Gallivan." 19 Old habit. 20 But, we have no program, other than a 21 mild-medication regimen. And that's what we do with 22 our inmates: we help them come off their -- you 23 know, get them through withdrawal. 24 And that's it, in our facility. That is our 25 treatment program. 1 SENATOR GALLIVAN: But what programs would 2 help? 3 SHERIFF JOSEPH GERACE: Well, I am not -- 4 SENATOR GALLIVAN: You need funding for 5 programs, but, what would you put in there? 6 SHERIFF JOSEPH GERACE: I would go to the 7 experts, some of which are here, to talk about, what 8 is the most effective? what's evidenced-based? 9 And -- but if I went to my legislature now 10 and asked for money to do those kinds of things, 11 I know, pretty much, what the answer would be: 12 "There is no money." 13 SENATOR GALLIVAN: Can I also ask, and your 14 statistics might be similar: The difference in your 15 jail population, between those that are sentenced 16 versus not sentenced? 17 SHERIFF JOSEPH GERACE: Let me just speak to 18 that quickly. 19 I can tell you, because we looked at this 20 just a short period of time ago. 21 Right now, we have almost 85 percent of the 22 inmates in our facility are presentenced. They're 23 awaiting some function of the system. 24 And that presents some challenges to us, 25 obviously. 1 SENATOR YOUNG: One of the pieces of 2 legislation, just so you know, that we proposed in 3 the Senate, would be to reduce the State's share of 4 certain assets for forfeitures, so that more money 5 could go into law enforcement, but also different 6 chemical-dependency programs. 7 That that may be a resource for you, to help 8 you with some of the funding needs. 9 SHERIFF TIMOTHY WHITCOMB: We'd certainly 10 embrace and support that. 11 To get back to answer some of the other 12 questions: 13 I think the only stat that might be 14 significantly different between Chautauqua County 15 and Cattaraugus County, you know, we house 16 three areas of sovereign territory in 17 Cattaraugus County; whereas, that's not as much in 18 Chautauqua County. 19 So our inmate -- our native inmate population 20 is probably higher. 21 Other than that, what resources, 22 specifically? 23 You also have to realize and take into effect 24 that our inmate population has also spiked from an 25 Axis 1 and Axis 2, DSM 5 -- I'm lacking the word. 1 All the psychiatric institutes have closed. 2 Our mentally-ill inmate population has also 3 spiked. 4 We need better -- in Cattaraugus County, we 5 need better medical, and additional, medical 6 support, mental-health support, to deal with the 7 inmates that are going to be with us. 8 And we're struggling to do that right now 9 with the existing resources. 10 In addition to that, it's my belief that 11 there needs to be -- we have excellent cooperation 12 with the Cattaraugus County, with our 13 District Attorney's Office, with the State Police, 14 the Sheriffs' Office, with the city PDs, and the 15 drug courts. 16 But I think we need to be a little bit better 17 at recognizing a drug user versus drug dealer. 18 And I've got plenty of room, in any cell, any 19 day of the week, for somebody who's dealing. And 20 that includes doctors that are overprescribing or 21 abusively prescribing. 22 [Applause.] 23 SHERIFF TIMOTHY WHITCOMB: But somebody who 24 is using doesn't necessarily need to sit in our 25 county jail. 1 And we're part of the process, and they're 2 going to be there, but some of those other programs 3 that could be available. 4 I recognize that there was a seat for our 5 probation director today. He's -- unfortunately, 6 he's not here to answer this. 7 But, programs like electronic monitoring, or, 8 some type of a master's-trained counselor, or, 9 vocational trade person, who can assist us with 10 helping inmates who have substance-abuse issues 11 transition into a successful life when they come 12 out. 13 As Sheriff Gerace said, we have a captive 14 audience. They're clear-eyed, they're sober; it's 15 an opportunity. And we don't have the resources to 16 make the impact that we would like to. 17 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 18 Captain Balon, did you want to say anything, 19 New York State Police? 20 CAPTAIN ERIC J. BALON: I, obviously, don't 21 have the same problems as the sheriffs do. I don't 22 have -- 23 I'll just slide over. 24 I don't have the same problems. I don't have 25 inmates, I don't have prisoners. 1 But what we do have is road patrols, and the 2 sheriffs do, too, that encounter people every day. 3 Right now, if a crime hasn't been committed, 4 we just pack up and go. 5 If we do see somebody who needs help, I don't 6 know what -- you know, if I was on the road, 7 I wouldn't know what resources to refer them to. 8 I think the best thing that we can do is just 9 educate the troopers, educate the deputies, educate 10 the patrolmen, on what resources are available, and 11 how these people can go about getting that help. 12 Like I said, I can speak for my road troopers 13 right now. 14 If they encounter somebody who needs help, we 15 don't know who to refer them to. 16 You know, maybe we can refer them to an 17 agency, or something. 18 But it would be better if we had a packet of, 19 "Here's numbers you can call," instead of just 20 saying, you know, Call the county, call somebody 21 else. 22 Give us numbers. You know, let us know who 23 we can send these people to. 24 SENATOR YOUNG: That's a great idea. 25 [Applause.] 1 SHERIFF JOSEPH GERACE: If you don't mind, 2 Senator? 3 One of the other things I feel that we 4 have -- we're missing an opportunity, is the reality 5 is, and I mentioned 85 percent of our inmates are 6 presentenced. 7 So, at any given time, if somebody shows up 8 at our door with bail, they're gone. We have no 9 control over them. 10 So I feel that we need to support our 11 probation departments to a much greater level, so 12 those people can use "RUS," or, release under 13 supervision, of probation as a mechanism to, not 14 only leave jail early -- as Sheriff Whitcomb said, 15 they don't belong there, they need treatment -- but 16 to have somebody that they're -- they have to report 17 to to get released, that does continue to aid them, 18 assist them, and direct them once they walk out that 19 door. 20 Because, as long as someone comes up with the 21 bail money, it could be three in the morning, we 22 open the door and let them go. 23 Yes, I want to treat them in the jail. 24 I want a better system of doing that. 25 But we also have to be able to guide them 1 once they leave the facility, or they'll go right 2 back to the same people, places, and things. 3 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 4 Counselor Bova. 5 ARLENE BOVA: Yes. [Speaking in native 6 language.] 7 Just, sort of, I want to reaffirm a few of 8 the comments that were given today. 9 I believe the strong message is "no addicts." 10 That's what we need. 11 And I [speaking in native language] for your 12 very direct message on that. And I hope everyone 13 heard that. 14 But to our youth, what I've heard from them 15 is to say: Communicate to us. 16 And I believe we need to communicate in the 17 way they communicate today; that is technology. 18 The Captain just referred to pamphlets. 19 Our youth, and our, I'd say, young under 30, 20 they use their phones. There are so many, now, ways 21 to match up their phones with information, that 22 could be on there to hand out. 23 Amanda stepped out, but what I heard her say 24 is that she participated in underaged drinking. 25 You know, this put her in the arena where 1 there were drugs. There were people pushing those 2 drugs on her. 3 She made a choice. She has paid some 4 consequences for that. 5 I believe parents and the community need to 6 pay consequences when they facilitate and they allow 7 underaged drinking. 8 It is now graduation season, prom, and, you 9 see parents host or look the other way. 10 What's with that? 11 What is with a community not saying something 12 about that? 13 You know, the message is about "no addicts." 14 And, this is very emotional for me. 15 In the last six months, I've seen somebody 16 under 50 buried every month, and it's pretty much 17 due to drugs, all of them. 18 Whether the drugs, diabetes; when they become 19 diabetic, they get addicted to various things. 20 We've seen it. We live that every day. 21 I've seen two babies under 5, gone, because 22 of the situation they had been around with alcohol 23 and drugs. 24 You know, what's it going to take? 25 My boy is 15. 1 When he was 13, I was fortunate, I could send 2 him to North Carolina to live with his brother, 3 because he could not make some of the right choices. 4 People were asking him to steal. They were 5 asking him to move things; drugs. 6 I'm very thankful for the sheriffs that were 7 there to assist, and told me what to do. 8 He threatened suicide one day. 9 Hardest thing you do is call and say 10 "my son." 11 They were there. 12 He went to WCA. 13 Unfortunately, there was no follow-up from 14 his provider -- I mean, his addiction counselor. 15 But I was fortunate that, when we saw the 16 sheriffs on the road, they would check. They'd 17 check on our youth. 18 Our marshals check on our youth. 19 I'm also going to beg the schools, from the 20 superintendents, down, help your teachers. 21 When your teachers say they need help, you 22 help them. They have my children longer than I do 23 in a day. 24 So please support them. 25 Support the teachers with the funding and the 1 resources that they need. 2 We can all network, we can make things 3 happen. But it's going to take everyone. 4 And it's "no addicts." That's what we want. 5 [Applause.] 6 SENATOR YOUNG: I know we have some federal 7 agents here today, federal representatives, and 8 I know they're working very hard to interdict the 9 drugs that are coming in. 10 So, I don't know if they wanted to contribute 11 some ideas of what they're working on? 12 MICHELLE SPAHN: Can everyone hear me okay? 13 Hi, I'm Michelle Spahn from the 14 Drug Enforcement Administration out of Buffalo. 15 I have to say that it's great to see everyone 16 here today, and the participation that we've seen, 17 really, across the state. 18 And thank you for inviting us here today. 19 What I can tell you is that, I've been in 20 this position since October of 2013. But I was a 21 supervisor of the task force here in Buffalo for the 22 last five years. 23 Just over the last three years, you know, in 24 our position with conducting investigations, 25 targeting the highest-level traffickers, we have 1 seen almost a 400 percent increase in the number of 2 heroin seizures that we've had just over the last 3 three years. 4 Part of that, I believe, is really a 5 testament to the I-STOP program, because we saw a 6 significant increase between the heroin seizures 7 from 2012 to 2013. And we did see a decrease in the 8 number of opiate and opioid seizures between those 9 years. 10 So, you know, I can tell you that we've seen 11 a huge increase in the number of heroin seizures, as 12 well as the number of heroin arrests. 13 We've worked closely with the U.S. Attorney's 14 Office, Bill Hochul and Tim Lynch, to prosecute 15 those that chose to divert pharmaceuticals and sell 16 those drugs on the streets. 17 We've had some very successful investigations 18 of rogue doctors, as well as other health-care 19 professionals, who have, obviously, diverted these 20 chemicals on to the street. Doctors who have 21 operated pill-mills, and who have really operated, 22 of course, outside of normal medical procedure. 23 And I have to say that those individuals are 24 rogue, because the majority of the members of our 25 health-care profession do practice in an ethical 1 and, of course, safe manner. 2 I also have to say that, last year, in 3 Erie County, I have to comment to Erie County, that 4 the number of overdose deaths due to chemical 5 intoxication was 124. 6 About 60 percent of those were related to 7 heroin, fentanyl, and other opiates, which is huge. 8 I can also tell you that, this year, 9 according to the Erie Crime Analysis Center, between 10 January 1st of this year, up to April 9th, there 11 were 48 total chemical-overdose deaths -- 12 chemical-intoxication overdose deaths. 13 And half of those, almost, 21 of those, were 14 heroin or heroin-fentanyl related, which is an 15 alarming statistic that we're seeing as a trend for 16 this year, for 2014. And I only see it increasing 17 from there. 18 What I can tell you is that DEA has been 19 reactive, because that's the nature of our job. 20 That's the nature of any law-enforcement 21 department or agency, is to be reactive. To, you 22 know, arrest drug traffickers and prosecute them, 23 with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office, 24 to the fullest extent. 25 But I can also tell you that a huge part of 1 what we do is, really, to get out into the 2 community, to provide awareness, education. 3 I know we've brought this up so many times 4 here today, because that's a huge part of what we 5 do. We want to bridge that gap between 6 law enforcement and community. 7 Also, as a national event, DEA has held 8 pill take-back events. 9 Since 2011, in this area in Western New York, 10 since the inception of the National Pill Take-Back 11 Program, we've collected over 74,000 pounds of 12 unused and unwanted prescription medications, which 13 is really a true testament to the involvement of the 14 community, that participation, and the awareness of 15 the community in this effort, but, also, to the 16 amount of prescription drugs that are being 17 prescribed; because, really, that's just a fraction 18 of what's making it on to the street or in the hands 19 of patients and those that do have an addiction 20 problem, unfortunately. 21 I can tell you that, just in the last event 22 that we held, which was in October of -- I'm sorry, 23 our last was April of 2014, of this year, we 24 collected 11,929 pounds from Western New York in 25 about 30 site -- 40 sites. I'm sorry. 1 So I can tell you that the pill take-back 2 program is working. 3 We also have a program that we started about 4 three years ago called "Game-Changers." 5 This is a program -- the reason I'm bringing 6 it up here, is because this is a program that really 7 provides at-risk youth an opportunity to stay off 8 the streets on Friday nights, to participate, and 9 learn basketball skills; but, also, learn the team 10 concept. 11 We also bring in guest speakers, motivational 12 speakers, professional sports players, as well as 13 prominent members of the community, who provide 14 life lessons. 15 They receive lessons on resume building, and 16 character building. You know, they also -- we have 17 guest speakers from Kids Escaping Drugs. 18 And thank you, Jodi, for being here, and 19 thank you for your efforts. 20 And to Robin Clouden [ph.], as well. 21 But we have an individual that has been very 22 instrumental to really making an impact in this 23 program, who comes in as a guest speaker on each of 24 those -- or, one of those Friday nights, I should 25 say, to really tell his or her story. And they are 1 recovering addicts, these individuals, and really 2 make an impact to the kids. 3 This program is meant for boys and girls, 4 ages 9 to 18. And this is our way of reaching out 5 to kids, you know, almost before it's too late. 6 It really starts -- we really have to start 7 young with our children. 8 This program actually was instituted in 9 Buffalo. 10 And we currently have a site, also, in 11 Niagara Falls that's scheduled to kick off tomorrow. 12 It's from 6 to 9 p.m on Friday nights, usually 13 during the summer, usually an eight-week program. 14 But I offer it to any city or any town that 15 feels they can benefit from this program. 16 We usually couple with the 17 U.S. Attorney's Office, as well as the city and the 18 mayor's office that the program is conducted in, as 19 well as the local police department and our local 20 community partners. 21 And, really, this program has been hugely 22 successful, with over 100 students who have 23 participated at each site. 24 I can tell you that we've also gotten out 25 into schools recently, just in the last couple of 1 years. We have agents and task-force officers who 2 have conducted presentations, drug-awareness 3 presentations, at various colleges, high schools, 4 middle schools; both, as part of our Red Ribbon 5 Campaign in October, but, also, as part of just a 6 general drug-awareness program. 7 We've also been involved with a great project 8 that Avi Israel heads up, with WNED, Channel 17, 9 John Craig, which has been really instrumental in 10 really providing that awareness. 11 And congrats to Avi in getting that program, 12 and helping that program kick off. 13 That program does travel around to different 14 high schools, and, elementary schools, I believe, if 15 it was needed, to really put out that drug-awareness 16 message. 17 So, to us, you know, we're really committed 18 to being involved in this, with our local law 19 enforcement partners, as well as our treatment and 20 health-care providers, to really make an impact and 21 provide that awareness. 22 So, thank you again. 23 [Applause.] 24 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you very much. 25 Thank you, Agent Spahn. 1 And thank you all. 2 I have to run, to catch a plane, but, I can 3 tell you that Senator Young, obviously, and the 4 other Senators are going to stay, and increase the 5 dialogue even more. 6 I will say, though, due to technology, I will 7 be sitting at home, watching the rest of this forum 8 online tonight. 9 And, I want to thank again, my colleagues in 10 the Senate, President Snyder and the Seneca Nation, 11 for hosting this forum. 12 It has been invaluable. We've gotten very 13 good ideas. 14 And, again, we're going to be seeing 15 legislation passed, not in the coming months or 16 years, but in the coming weeks, on what we've 17 learned today. 18 Thank you so much. 19 We're going to win this fight together. 20 [Applause.] 21 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Senator Boyle. 22 I didn't know if Assistant U.S. Attorney 23 Timothy Lynch would like to say something today? 24 ASST. U.S. ATTY TIMOTHY LYNCH: No -- well, 25 Senator, I should bring Michelle to most of my 1 speaking engagements. She did all the talking for 2 me. 3 She touched on, really, all the major points 4 that I would have talked about. 5 And, one, I think a lot of credit goes to the 6 DEA. They've certainly made it their highest 7 priority to bring cases to our office involving 8 doctors who are overprescribing, illegally 9 prescribing, medications, as well as nurses who've 10 done so, other people in the medical field, people 11 who work at pharmacies. 12 They're out there, hitting the streets, 13 making contacts with their local partners, to bring 14 these cases to our office. 15 So I really appreciate, really, the effort 16 that Michelle has put into it. 17 The only other thing I want to comment on is 18 a personal experience. This addiction is near and 19 dear to my heart. 20 When I grew up, my family was -- I grew up in 21 an addictive, abusive environment. 22 And I think it was Pat that talked about it 23 originally, but, you know, it's so important to have 24 parental involvement. Having parents who are 25 knowledgeable in the area, who are willing to talk 1 to their kids about it. 2 I was lucky. My mom did that, from an early 3 age. 4 And I can honestly say that, from the 5 beginning of my life, teenage life, it was very 6 evident to me, and to my brothers and sisters, to 7 stay away from drugs and alcohol. 8 And it was because of my mother not being 9 afraid to tell us that, hey, if we want to go talk 10 to a doctor, if we want to go talk to a group 11 setting, we should do that, so we can avoid falling 12 into the same pitfalls that my father did. 13 So, I appreciate all the work that all of 14 the -- our service providers do, Kids Escaping 15 Drugs. 16 And I think that that really has to be an 17 important component, getting that information out to 18 parents, whether it be through the school system 19 that they can do it, so they can have that knowledge 20 base, and they can pass it on to their kids. 21 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you very much. 22 And I just had one quick question: Where 23 does most of the heroin come from in 24 Western New York? 25 MICHELLE SPAHN: Our major source city in 1 Western New York is actually New York City. 2 20 percent of all of the heroin that's -- 3 actually comes from Mexico, gets distributed in 4 New York City. And then usually what happens is, 5 the heroin travels down the pipeline to cities like 6 Buffalo and Rochester. 7 We have other source cities, as well, other 8 source states. But the majority of our heroin does 9 come from New York City. 10 SENATOR YOUNG: Do they transport it in cars? 11 Or how do they get it here? 12 MICHELLE SPAHN: Typically, that's the way 13 that it's transported. 14 Sometimes we do see it in bulk quantities, 15 like in kilogram quantities. 16 But, typically, there are, you know, 17 "heroin mills" is what they call them, where they 18 actually break down the heroin in New York City, so 19 it travels in smaller quantities, typically, to 20 Buffalo. 21 But sometimes we have seen, as in the case of 22 2013, we had a large heroin seizure that was in 23 kilogram quantity, so... 24 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 25 Chief Masullo, you wanted to say something. 1 POLICE CHIEF BERNIE MASULLO: I'd' just like 2 to give a perspective on what the police officers go 3 through with this situation. 4 Like the Sheriff from Cattaraugus County 5 said, I have a department of 29 police officers. 6 We're a third-ring suburb of Buffalo. 7 And everything everybody says here, we deal 8 with on a daily basis. 9 As Mr. Snyder said, the president, kids are 10 our future. 11 Growing up, and a thing that's not really 12 important -- it is important, but not important, is 13 to talk about trash. People used to throw trash out 14 their window. 15 And you talk about constantly keeping the 16 message fresh. 17 And, we got rid of littering, because we 18 constantly kept the message fresh. 19 That's what you have to do here: you have to 20 keep the message fresh. 21 You have to start early, you have to start 22 young, and you have to stay on it. 23 As Tim said, strong family. 24 Every day, today, before I came here, I had a 25 grandmother come in, whose daughter, a heroin 1 addict, who finally got put in jail, who lost her 2 child to a boyfriend who's also a drug addict, who, 3 the family court gave him the child. 4 Grandparents have very little parental 5 rights. They come to us every day. 6 My guys are counselors, they're doctors, 7 they're lawyers. 8 We have a counseling in Derby, New York. 9 We work with Lake Shore Behavioral Health. 10 We work with Spectrum. 11 My officers just went through a 12 critical-incident training, to deal with 13 mentally-ill people, due to drug and alcohol. 14 We are trying to do everything we can do to 15 handle this. 16 Has this been around when I was a kid? 17 It was Robitussin medicine. It was sniffing 18 glue. 19 Again, the strong family. 20 Listening to the kids, they want their own 21 people to tell them. 22 You have to constantly give the message. 23 This is a problem that's been around forever. 24 We have to try to get a handle on it. 25 I don't have an answer. 1 I don't know if anybody has an answer how to 2 get a handle on it. 3 My messages to the kids in school, we lost 4 our D.A.R.E. officer. We had him for 19 years. 5 Again, thank you to the nation. We have a 6 school resource officer. He's going to Pittsburgh, 7 Pennsylvania, to school very shortly. 8 When he comes back, we're going to develop a 9 plan. We're going to -- the message is going to be 10 every day. 11 My officers are trained every day. 12 How do we get in touch with the kids? 13 In our program and our computer system, we 14 have a thing called "Master Name." 15 And anybody that's been in law enforcement 16 here, we start seeing the kids. 17 We start seeing little Johnny, once, twice, 18 three times. The parents call. Little Johnny gets 19 in trouble. Parents come to us, What can we do? 20 We refer them to the counseling. 21 First touch, when they get arrested, family 22 court. 23 I have an issue with family court; 24 New York State family court. 25 I've been in law enforcement for 36 years: 1 patrol, detective, and chief. 2 I said strong message early? 3 They get slapped on the wrist, go back home. 4 I'm a firm believer, you touch the burning 5 stove, you're not going to touch it again. 6 That's the way I was brought up. 7 Thank God, my kids were brought up the same 8 way; I've been fortunate. 9 But you have to be strong with your kids, you 10 have to deliver the message constantly, to get a 11 handle on this. 12 Our kids are our future. 13 We have kids and we have adults that are in 14 it now. We have to try to control that. We have to 15 try to keep them under control. 16 But, the kids now that are coming up, the 17 kids that are 5 years old, 6 years old, 18 10 years old, those are our future. 19 We have to constantly give the message. 20 Thank you. 21 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Chief. 22 And thank you for bringing up 23 Lake Shore Hospital and the behavioral-health 24 program. 25 [Applause.] 1 SENATOR YOUNG: And as you know, we're 2 working very hard and we need everyone's support to 3 keep, not only behavioral health going, because we 4 have such a need for more treatment programs, but, 5 also, to keep that hospital going. 6 So thank you very much for that. 7 At this point, we'd like to open it up to the 8 audience. 9 And, if anyone has any statement they would 10 like to make, or have any question for members of 11 the panel, I would invite you forward. 12 So, there's a microphone that you can see 13 down front. 14 And, I see Dr. Tony Evans. 15 DR. TONY EVANS: Thank you. 16 Senators, good to see you again. 17 Mr. Goodell, good to see you. 18 The real experts in youth development and 19 delinquency prevention are the youth-bureau 20 personnel throughout New York State, on a county and 21 municipal level. 22 Standing with me is city of Salamanca Youth 23 Bureau Director, Sandy Brundage. 24 She represents the only youth bureau on 25 territory, Native-American territory, in Salamanca. 1 I'm the incoming president of the State Youth 2 Bureau Association. 3 And, every day, we deal with 1.5 million kids 4 throughout New York State. 5 "1.5 million." 6 When I started my job 15 years ago, the State 7 allocated to county youth bureaus, $6.50, times 8 26,000. That was the money that we were to take, 9 and our resource allocation that we would support 10 the city of Olean Youth Bureau, the city of 11 Salamanca Youth Bureau, the parks and recreation 12 programs, that are vital for the kids' welfare in 13 the non-school and out-of-school hours, because we 14 know that every kid who has more than two or 15 three hours of unstructured, unsupervised time is a 16 kid at risk, and are vulnerable to the things you've 17 been talking about. 18 This past year, in the current state budget, 19 we were allocated $1.69 per child. 20 So that drop, precipitous drop, in State 21 funding, to help youth bureaus look after kids, 22 I think there's a correlation to what we see 23 happening here. 24 And I don't think you need to be a genius to 25 figure that out. 1 So, support your youth bureaus -- your county 2 youth bureaus, your municipal youth bureaus -- who 3 do so much for our kids. 4 Sandy. 5 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 6 SANDY BRUNDAGE: Thank you. 7 My name is Sandy Brundage, again, and I'm the 8 City of Salamanca Youth Bureau Director. 9 I've only lived there about 22 years or so, 10 so I feel like I'm still new. 11 But I can tell you that, every day, we have 12 between 50 and 60 kids. The school buses come, drop 13 off three or four bus loads of kids, and, we are 14 left to deal with kids who are hungry, kids who are 15 addicted already. 16 Last week we had a conversation with our kids 17 about pills they were getting from Rite-Aid; pills 18 that they were taking to get high. 19 One young man said to me: Hey, I almost fell 20 over in school this morning because I was still high 21 from last night. 22 So it is prevalent. 23 I don't care if you're purple, pink, Black, 24 White, Native American, Caucasian, from Mars, we 25 really need to help our kids. We really need to 1 work together. We need to own our kids. We need to 2 buy into our communities. 3 That is the only way that we really, my 4 opinion, are going to fix the problem. 5 It starts with the little kids. 6 We are working with our friends from 7 CAReS. Currently, we're doing an anti-drinking and 8 -drugging campaign called "What's It Worth To You?" 9 And we have 5- and 6-year-old kids who are 10 drawing posters about beer, and they're very 11 specific in the branding already of the kinds of 12 beer that they're putting in their posters. 13 It's probably not spelled correctly, but 14 they know what it is. 15 And so, my opinion, we start even younger, 16 preschool-age children, on up through. 17 Thank you very much. 18 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Sandy. 19 [Applause.] 20 DR. TONY EVANS: We all say kids are our 21 future, but we have to have a behavioral commitment 22 and a financial commitment to what we say we 23 believe. 24 Thank you. 25 [Applause.] 1 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 2 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: I serve on the 3 Chautauqua County Youth Bureau Board, and I second 4 what they're saying about the lack of funding, and 5 how it's affected our ability in Chautauqua County 6 to provide services. 7 SENATOR YOUNG: I agree. Thank you. 8 ANDY O'BRIEN [ph.]: Hi, my name is 9 Andy O'Brien from WCA Hospital in Jamestown, 10 director of mental-health and chemical-dependency 11 services. 12 Just a brief statement. 13 First of all, to echo what Jodi and Laura 14 said about the insurance issues, and the impact of 15 moving everything into managed care, that's going to 16 be a serious concern in a couple of years' time. 17 But I do have a simple suggestion that can 18 address you some of the things that Avi was talking 19 about; and he was talking about, in general, access 20 to services on a timely basis. 21 What I hear in my profession mostly is from 22 family members who are desperate today to get some 23 help. And they don't want to wait until tomorrow, 24 they don't want to wait until next week. 25 One of the problems is, access when people 1 need it. 2 We have a system where families are totally 3 lost, trying to navigate through the system, as to 4 find out where can they go to get some help. 5 And, often, they're faced with a series of 6 telephone numbers, and they have to call around 7 20 or 30 places, often to find out that there's 8 nobody there, they get an answering machine, and 9 they don't know what to do. 10 I've suggested to the New York State Office 11 of Alcohol and Substance Services, on several 12 occasions, and, also, the Office of Mental Health, 13 that a simple solution is to have a live website 14 that tells you the name of a facility that has an 15 open bed today. 16 I still don't understand why that hasn't been 17 developed, but that's the solution. 18 Thank you. 19 [Applause.] 20 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 21 JESSICA SHERMAN: Good afternoon. 22 My name is Jessica Sherman. I also work for 23 Kids Escaping Drugs. 24 We spoke briefly today about the peer-to-peer 25 program that we offer for our youth. That's our 1 face-to-face program. 2 I wanted to make it known to everybody here 3 that we also have a parent-to-parent component of 4 that program, and we have a component where we will 5 educate educators, about the dangers, the 6 consequences, the ever-changing signs, symptoms, and 7 trends that are so prevalent in adolescent substance 8 abuse. 9 All three of those components of that 10 face-to-face program are offered free of charge to 11 any community in any school district in all of 12 Western New York. 13 So if you're not aware of those services, we 14 are very willing to come out to you, and to educate 15 your students, your educational professionals, and 16 your parents about these ever-changing things they 17 need to be very, very aware of. 18 So I just wanted to make sure that everyone 19 here knew that that was available, not only in the 20 schools, but in community organizations as well. 21 Thank you. 22 [Applause.] 23 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 24 Mayor Vecchiarella. 25 MAYOR CARMEN VECCHIARELLA: My name is 1 Carmen Vecchiarella. I'm mayor of the city of 2 Salamanca. 3 99 percent of the city of Salamanca is 4 located on Allegany territory. 5 We have to partner together. 6 The Seneca Nation, I applaud them. 7 I was there with Sheriff Whitcomb when they 8 helped the county legislator. 9 I was the legislator previously. 10 We have to do something because, in Salamanca 11 right now, we've probably had four people that died 12 in the last month and a half. 13 Two the other day from ODs. 14 We had an overdose last night. 15 I mean, we don't have a hospital there. We 16 don't have an urgent-care center there. 17 We have to transport to Olean, 2 1/2 hours to 18 come back, if we have anybody with a heart attack, 19 or that. 20 I mean, right now, I have a proposal in front 21 with the Seneca Nation, talking to them, on, we need 22 resources, basically. 23 They know we only have a couple police on at 24 night. 25 The drug dealers and the people from out of 1 town, years ago, like with Arlene was talking about, 2 or Darlene, or the counselors, you could walk down 3 the streets, we knew everybody. 4 Now we don't know anybody. 5 We get 12, 13, 14 of them going at it at 6 once. The drug dealers are coming in, they're 7 following the money. They know what's happening, 8 and it's a situation. 9 I know the District Attorney, Lori Rehman, 10 we're really over-buried. 11 We got to really pull together. 12 Either get some resources from the State, or 13 something, because, you know, we're mandated on a 14 lot of these programs, but the idea is, we don't 15 have the law enforcement to handle it. 16 I mean, we've got, the Southern Tier Drug 17 Task Force does an excellent job, but they're spread 18 pretty thin. 19 And in Salamanca, every time there's an 20 arrest, there's White and Natives altogether. 21 And we get so many people from Buffalo. 22 And the idea is, the heroin is the biggest 23 thing. 24 I mean, when you have five or six deaths, 25 result in ODs, in the last month and a half in a 1 little town like Salamanca, that's something wrong. 2 And we're having, definitely, plenty of, and 3 I'm talking ODs, that are dead. I'm not talking 4 people who survived. 5 We've probably had eight or nine that OD'd, 6 that did survive. 7 But, you know, they're coming in from all 8 over. 9 So we definitely got to partner somehow, and 10 we definitely got to address it; but we have to 11 address it now, or we're not going to have a future. 12 Thank you. 13 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Mayor. 14 [Applause.] 15 SENATOR YOUNG: DA Foley. 16 DAVID FOLLEY: Good afternoon, everyone. 17 David Foley, Chautauqua County 18 District Attorney. 19 I congratulate all of you for coming and 20 sitting here, and giving your ideas. 21 And at least, as District Attorney for 22 Chautauqua County, I've been a real strong proponent 23 of the drug-treatment courts, and sending those that 24 are addicted to different substances into these 25 programs, to try and get help. 1 And I congratulate the sheriffs from both 2 counties. 3 I know that I work very closely with 4 Sheriff Gerace, in trying to designate those people 5 that are in the jail, to get them out, to get them 6 services. 7 But we also have people out there that are 8 dealing drugs, that are in the business of dealing 9 drugs. And there has been two substantial changes 10 in the drug-sentencing laws. 11 The most recent one was in 2009, and that, 12 effectively, took a lot of power out of the 13 District Attorney's hands and our ability to get 14 stiff sentencing against individuals. 15 I'll give you an example: A second-time drug 16 felon seller automatically get to apply to diversion 17 and get into drug-treatment courts. 18 It's like giving the kid the keys to the 19 candy store, and he goes in there. 20 And legitimate people who are addicted and 21 are trying to get better. 22 And they're out, and they get an automatic 23 reduction to the crime and they never see any state 24 prison term. 25 Handing over to the Department of Corrections 1 the ability for individuals to enroll in the 2 Willard program multiple times, and getting out in a 3 matter of months, when we're trying to get state 4 prison terms against them, effectively, has taken 5 the teeth out of prosecution in regards to drug 6 sentencings. 7 And I would really encourage you, on the 8 other end of this, besides looking at addicted 9 individuals and helping them, look at these 10 drug-sentencing laws. 11 I mean, if you can go in and you can soften 12 the drug sentencings, let's say, for marijuana, 13 certainly, you can go in and take a look at such an 14 awful drug like heroin and say, We really need to 15 address what we're going to do with those 16 individuals that come into our towns for the sole 17 purpose of setting up sales. 18 And we need to be able to effectively 19 terminate them, and not see them back out on the 20 street in five or six months like we've done 21 repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly. 22 I know it's very frustrating for the 23 Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force. 24 It's very frustrating for my office. 25 And I'm sure I speak, probably, on behalf of 1 most of the district attorneys in New York State. 2 Thank you. 3 [Applause.] 4 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, DA. 5 David, just to let you know, there's several 6 law-enforcement initiatives in our package, that I'd 7 like to send to you for your response. 8 One of them is to not allow drug dealers to 9 be in shock programs, such as Willard. 10 Another one, is to establish the crime of 11 operating as a major trafficker. 12 Establishing the crime of transporting an 13 opioid controlled substance. 14 And, facilitating the conviction of drug 15 dealers. 16 And I hope all of those things would be 17 helpful to you and other DAs all across the state. 18 POLICE CHIEF TIM WALSH: Good afternoon, 19 Senator, and everyone else. 20 My name is Tim Walsh. I'm the chief of 21 police in Wellsville, New York. And I've been in 22 law enforcement for the past 37 years. 23 When I first started, the drug problem in the 24 Southern Tier was pretty much marijuana. 25 Today, as I am coming to the closure of my 1 career, we have a barn fire with the heroin and 2 opiate issues. 3 Drug diversion is a huge problem in my 4 community, and we are working diligently with the 5 people from the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task 6 Force, CNET, and, also, we have some things going on 7 with the DEA. 8 We are using every resource that we have 9 available to us, to our best use. 10 Several years ago we had resources to have a 11 youth officer. We had resources to have an officer 12 assigned to the drug task force. 13 With the way the system is with the state 14 taxes now, and everything, we just don't have the 15 ability to fund those positions. 16 My thought is that, if we want a safe 17 New York, we take a look at putting some of the 18 funding back into relieving local tax issues so we 19 have the resources to successfully restaff those 20 positions and get after this matter as it should be. 21 I might also suggest that as one of the 22 things that we can do to help the problem, 23 especially with drug diversion, is to equip every 24 police facility in New York State, or any other type 25 of facility where there's security, with the drug 1 drop-boxes, so people that have opiates in their 2 homes that have been overly-prescribed, because, 3 after just participating in the recent pill drop, 4 it's just unbelievable the pills that are brought 5 into that. 6 But I think that would also help with this 7 issue, if we could get these secure drop-boxes so 8 people can -- don't have to wait for the official 9 drops. 10 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Chief. 11 POLICE CHIEF TIM WALSH: Thank you. 12 [Applause.] 13 SENATOR YOUNG: DA Rehman. 14 DA LORI REHMAN: Hi. I'm Lori Rehman. I'm 15 the Cattaraugus County District Attorney. 16 And I just wanted to buttress on, I totally 17 agree with everything that District Attorney Foley 18 said. 19 But I would also add something on what 20 Sheriff Whitcomb and Sheriff Gerace addressed, is 21 that our probation departments do not have the 22 resources. 23 And, for a first-time offender, a lot of -- 24 as a prosecutor, we have very few tools with drug 25 addicts, because they're selling, a lot of times, to 1 support their addiction. So they're sellers also, 2 but, then, we have sellers. 3 I mean, in my 13-year career, there are 4 people I have sent to prison four or five times, and 5 they're back out on the street within six, 6 seven months, especially with Willard, and they're 7 dealing. 8 All they have to do is convince the judge 9 that they're an addict. 10 But you look at their record, and I argue and 11 argue until I'm blue in the face, and repeatedly say 12 "I told you so," because they're back. 13 But we have -- there's a distinction between 14 somebody who sells to support their habit and 15 somebody sell sells to make money. 16 And we have a large amount of people who get 17 the drugs from other people and sell them to support 18 their habit; and those are our local kids. Those 19 are the people that didn't come to sell. They're 20 not making money. Most of them, a lot of them, are 21 living on the streets. But when we arrest them, 22 it's going to be a felony because it's selling. 23 We have very few resources, besides jail. 24 We send them to jail, and they have to come 25 down when -- we have to do these in roundups, 1 because we have to surprise them and we have to 2 protect our informants, so they all go to jail on a 3 Superior Court warrant. 4 We try to set reasonable bail. We try to do 5 release under supervision. But we have nothing. 6 We try to get them into treatment. 7 We have nothing to do with these people 8 except incarcerate them, to make sure they're not 9 using, and to make sure they show up for court. 10 So I feel like we need more treatment options 11 for the jail, for probation. 12 And the other thing is, if it's a felony and 13 we end up with a felony disposition, and it's their 14 first offense, they should get probation. But a lot 15 of them, because of the seriousness of their 16 addictions, they can't comply, and we'll put them 17 back in jail. 18 And I know -- I don't think it's very easy to 19 break down, but I think a large number of our 20 inmates right now are violations of probation and 21 violations of release under supervision. 22 And a lot of times parolees who don't have 23 enough resources when they get out, either, but, we 24 just -- there's nothing we can do except incarcerate 25 them. 1 And we -- you know, it's very frustrating, 2 because that's my option. I have to keep the 3 streets safe, also. And we also will have to 4 protect these people from themselves. 5 And with the pregnant women, I'd rather they 6 sit in jail as a high-risk pregnancy than be out on 7 the street using while they're pregnant. 8 But what do we do? We have nothing -- 9 nowhere to send these people. We have no good 10 treatment facilities. They're overworked, they're 11 overburdened, and no money to send them, either. 12 Most of our people in Cattaraugus County that 13 we deal with are below poverty level. They're on 14 all kinds of funding to begin with, but some of them 15 are on nothing. And we have nothing we can do with 16 them. 17 It's very -- and it's -- especially, I think 18 the Native-American population is highly 19 overrepresented for those issues. 20 And I think part of it is also with the 21 casino and the money coming in. 22 As Mayor Vecchiarella said, the drugs are 23 going to follow the money, and they might make more 24 money there, but we don't have the resources to deal 25 with the effects of it. 1 And, I mean, every year my budget gets cut, 2 or it doesn't grow as it should, same with the 3 sheriffs, because of all these mandates that -- and 4 these tax caps. Our legislator has the same pot 5 they have to divide bigger and bigger. And it's 6 really hurting us to not have resources or places to 7 send people. And it cuts probation's budget a lot. 8 It cuts everybody. 9 Everybody that deals in providing services, 10 we're all cut further and further. 11 And there's never more money for 12 district attorneys' office or sheriffs' departments 13 or probation departments. 14 And that's the frustrating thing, I see, is 15 we have no options, and we have no money to do 16 anything anyway. 17 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 18 [Applause.] 19 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you very much. 20 DANIEL LJILJANICH: Senator? 21 SENATOR YOUNG: Yes. 22 DANIEL LJILJANICH: I'm sorry. 23 Just as a representative of the schools, we 24 often get asked by parents, What can I do to keep my 25 kid away from drugs? 1 And one of the things that's been touched on 2 by some of the non-school entities here, is getting 3 them involved in other activities. 4 My push to parents every single day, is to 5 make sure your students are involved in the 6 co-curricular activities. 7 We have many offered in our school district. 8 All the school districts around, do. 9 Unfortunately, we've certainly had some of 10 those cut in recent years, but we still provide many 11 opportunities for our kids. 12 If somebody said on a preventative -- on the 13 preventive front, "What can we do?" it's get them 14 involved in positive things early. 15 Our middle school and high school students 16 they're going to be doing something. They're going 17 to be involved in something after school. 18 We want to make sure that they're possible 19 things. 20 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. Excellent point. 21 Thank you. 22 Okay, maybe two or three more. 23 And then, if people have more information to 24 share, we welcome it, and we would ask that you 25 either contact me or one of the other senators so 1 that we can include that information in the 2 task force. 3 I know County Executive Horrigan has come up 4 with a lot of good data, that we're looking forward 5 to having him share with us, also. 6 So, maybe three more speakers. 7 DR. MICHAEL KALSMAN: Great, thank you. I'll 8 try to be brief. 9 Dr. Michael Kalsman. I'm the medical 10 director of the Seneca Nation Health System. 11 I practice on the Allegany territory. I'm a 12 primary-care physician. 13 And, being a former pharmacist, and now a 14 physician, I've been on the front line of this for 15 quite a while. 16 And, honestly, today, I kind of feel like I'm 17 the bad guy. 18 But, you know, I'd like to say that I -- you 19 know, practicing in a rural area, I don't have much 20 access to specialists, so I have to deal with 21 chronic-pain treatment every day, and addiction 22 every day. And, I've taken it upon myself to become 23 as educated as I can. 24 We're currently in the process of rolling out 25 new policies at our health department regarding 1 this, to hold the -- not only the providers more 2 accountable, but patients more accountable. 3 I agree that physicians need to be more 4 educated about this. Absolutely. 5 I am a little concerned about how that 6 goes -- how that is taken, if it's legislated or 7 not. 8 My fear, because I've already seen this a 9 little bit with I-STOP, is -- and trust me, I think 10 I-STOP's a wonderful program. 11 But my fear is that physicians will just 12 simply say, Fine, I'm not going to prescribe pain 13 medications at all. 14 Now, I treat a lot of chronic-pain patients. 15 And what medical evidence will show you is 16 that less than 10 percent of chronic-pain patients 17 begin to abuse or misuse chronic-pain meds. 18 So we need -- as being an advocate for some 19 of those chronic-pain patients, we need to do this 20 in a careful way. 21 That's my first comment. 22 The second comment is simply that, and I know 23 this has already been said, but it really begins at 24 home. 25 What I see every, every day is complacency 1 towards entry-level abuse, such as alcohol and 2 marijuana. 3 Marijuana is not even considered a drug when 4 I talk to people. 5 More than 50 percent of my prenatal patients 6 are positive for marijuana when we do screens at 7 their first prenatal visit, because it's not 8 considered a drug. 9 The community really -- parents and the 10 community really have to address this issue. 11 It begins at home. 12 So, thank you. 13 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you very much. 14 [Applause.] 15 SENATOR YOUNG: We have a young person who 16 wants to contribute. 17 TUCKER JAMISON [ph.]: Hello. My name is 18 Tucker Jamison. I am a senior at Gowanda Central 19 Schools. 20 Most of you had actually made a good -- 21 I agree with what most of you have said, that the 22 programs for the kids have been -- being set up. 23 But one thing that I think that should be 24 said is -- or, should be done, is that it should be 25 started at a younger age. And, also, that the 1 parents get involved with these activities. 2 Because, me, as myself, I look up to my 3 parents. And they had actually helped me get 4 through a lot. And having my parents come up to me 5 and asking if I am doing drugs or anything actually 6 gives me the reassurance that they care. 7 And having that feeling of that caringness -- 8 caring from my parents is key, because it feels that 9 you can trust other adults that can help you, such 10 as counselors, because, throughout high school, 11 I didn't really trust my counselor at all. And 12 I didn't come to her until pretty recently to talk 13 to her, in general. 14 And when there are some students that are 15 struggling with alcohol or drug use, as well as any 16 other household problems in the house. 17 And it's just -- I just have to say, just, 18 thank you for coming out here to do this, because 19 this is really awesome that this is being done. 20 SENATOR YOUNG: Good job. Thank you. 21 [Applause.] 22 SENATOR YOUNG: Ben Spitzer. 23 BEN SPITZER: Hello, Senator Young. 24 SENATOR YOUNG: Hello. 25 BEN SPITZER: I want to, first of all, thank 1 the Seneca Nation for making this opportunity 2 available to everybody. 3 I really don't have a question. I just 4 wanted to stand up after sitting in those bleachers. 5 [Laughter.] 6 BEN SPITZER: No, I do. 7 But before I speak, I wanted to have a couple 8 of my young people who came with me from the 9 Chautauqua Lake Central School District to speak at 10 the microphone. 11 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 12 ABIGAIL YANZI [ph.]: Hi, my name's 13 Abigail Yanzi [ph.] and this is 14 Ashley Crandall [ph.]. We're both juniors at 15 Chautauqua Lake High School. 16 We just wanted to touch on what a couple of 17 people have mentioned before about, like, healthy 18 activities, and, like, the kids who are at risk are 19 the ones that don't really have much to do after 20 school. 21 And, we want to talk about something. 22 We both have been involved in 4-H since we 23 were young. And that's one of the programs in 24 New York State that's been cut. 25 [Applause.] 1 ABIGAIL YANZI [ph.]: And with budget cuts on 2 certain programs like that, that limits what we can 3 do. 4 ASHLEY CRANDALL [ph.]: A lot of people in 5 our school don't really even know what 4-H is about. 6 And that's a lot of things that we need to 7 stop, because even if it was more prevalent in 8 schools, more people knew: How do I even join it? 9 What is it? How do I get involved? How does this 10 affect what time I have to spend free? 11 Because this means that, even though it's, 12 like, going to be in schools, what we need to do is 13 not just in schools, because, most of the time, when 14 people are getting involved with bad things, it's 15 not anything to do with school. It's always out of 16 school. 17 So, we need to make sure that parents, too, 18 are willing to invest in their kids, because I know 19 that's what my parents did with me, and they were 20 very prevalent in my life. They wanted me to be 21 involved in positive things so I wouldn't have free 22 time to get mixed up with the bad stuff. 23 SENATOR YOUNG: We agree with you, 4-H is a 24 great program. 25 Thank you. 1 BEN SPITZER: Real quick, Ben Spitzer, 2 Superintendent of Chautauqua Lake Central School 3 District. Also, the president of the Far West 4 Council of School Superintendents in 5 Chautauqua County. 6 And I just wanted to make a very quick and 7 short pitch for consideration to bring back the 8 "school resource officer" program for all of our 9 schools. 10 I'm aware that the program is in some 11 schools. 12 And like so many other things, where we think 13 about school districts, I think we need to think 14 about equity. 15 I know that, you know, that's been a word 16 that's been quite prevalent this year, in terms of 17 the budget discussions. 18 But when we're talking about children and 19 safety and bullying and these issues with drugs, 20 I had the opportunity to have a school resource 21 officer in my school district. And it was, you 22 know, a very reassuring feeling, but it was also an 23 opportunity for students to connect with 24 law enforcement in a way that made significant 25 difference. 1 So, if you could give consideration to that. 2 I wouldn't want it to have a school resource 3 officer in one school, and not another school. 4 All the kids in all the schools should be 5 able to benefit from that program. 6 Thank you. 7 [Applause.] 8 SENATOR GALLIVAN: Thank you, Superintendent. 9 I -- on the "school resource officer" point, 10 I have long been an advocate for it. 11 The Senate was able to secure some funding in 12 this year's budget to be made available for grants 13 for school resource officers. 14 My office is actually involved in putting the 15 program together, with the Senate finance people. 16 And within the next several weeks, we'll be 17 getting information out to all of the schools. 18 It will go through the various Senate 19 offices, but our hope is, that we can make grant 20 money available to any school that wants to utilize 21 it for a school resource officer. 22 BEN SPITZER: Outstanding. Thank you. 23 RICK HUBER [ph.]: My name is 24 Rick Huber [ph.]. I'm the director of the only real 25 peer-run mental-health association in the state of 1 New York. We're from Chautauqua County. 2 What that means is, everyone in my 3 organization, including myself, has a mental-health 4 diagnosis, and is a recovered addict, and also has 5 college education in the field. 6 Some of the things I've heard today, you 7 know, I could spend the whole afternoon commenting 8 on them because we encounter it. We face this 9 problem every day. 10 If you come to my place tomorrow, you would 11 see group after group, with 40 and 50 recovering 12 addicts in it. That's the kind of problem that we 13 have. 14 And the answer to the father's question about 15 "Who do you call?" I give me cell phone number out 16 over the radio all the time. Parents can call us 17 24/7. Our phone number at our office runs right 18 into our cell phones, and we answer it. 19 But the thing I wanted to say today, is that 20 I want to put a little positive spin on it. 21 We are now going into our fourth meeting 22 we'll be having July 23rd. 23 My addicts -- I call them "mine," because 24 they are, they're like family to me -- I've never 25 seen that much hope in their faces, because of the 1 things that have been done, and the forums that are 2 being held in Chautauqua County. And now this. 3 And it's great to see. And we're actually 4 making some progress on this. 5 We've already trained 30-some parents in 6 Narcan, that they have in their homes now. 7 And, all kinds of things are going on over 8 there, because of the original forums. 9 And I think this is great. And that's why 10 I said I wanted to kind of give a positive note to 11 it, that this will work. 12 Thank you. 13 [Applause.] 14 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you very much. 15 Well, we have our two health-department 16 directors for the counties of Chautauqua and 17 Cattaraugus. 18 Hi, Christine. 19 Hi, Dr. Watkins. 20 DR. KEVIN WATKINS: Hi. 21 Senator Young, and to all the representatives 22 on the panel, I just want to say, we're just going 23 to continue to advocate for resources within our 24 community, as we know that it is the resources that 25 are unavailable in order to help treat some of these 1 addicts that we're seeing in our community. 2 Resources for education, resources for 3 intervention, it's vastly needed. 4 In addition, Mayor Vecchiarella said some 5 very alarming statistics that should have shaken, 6 you know, the feet of a lot of us, that we're losing 7 a lot of these addicts. And it's all unnecessary. 8 I want to advocate for Narcan for all of our 9 law-enforcement agents who are, primarily, the first 10 responders to a lot of these scenes. 11 And if they can administer the Narcan to a 12 lot of these addicts, that would truly help reduce 13 some of the mortalities that we're seeing within our 14 community. 15 In addition to the mortality that we're 16 seeing, we've seen an increase in HIV, an increase 17 in hepatitis B and hepatitis C. And we also want to 18 advocate for assistance in that area as well. 19 And, so, I just want to end with that, and 20 I'll introduce you to the Chautauqua County Health 21 Director. 22 CHRISTINE SCHUYLER: Hi. 23 Thank you, Senator Young, for talking about 24 our unfortunate statistics with our babies with 25 positive tox screens at birth. 1 And that's just an indication of a very 2 parallel track that we're seeing because of the 3 substance-abuse issues in our child welfare. 4 There is some great new CPS legislation at 5 the state level. Many thanks to Erie County for 6 that. 7 But, what we're seeing in substance abuse 8 directly impacts child welfare, when you're talking 9 child abuse and neglect. 10 We have a whole new generation of parents who 11 are addicts. These are these very, very young 12 parents with infants, toddlers, and children, who 13 are having them removed because they themselves are 14 the addicts. 15 So when we talk about educating parents, 16 there's a whole nother subset of these very young 17 parents that we also need to deal with. 18 And I ask for your remembrance of that when 19 we're talking about the stretch on the health and 20 the mental-health systems; but, also, the tremendous 21 burden that we're seeing right now in our 22 child-welfare system. 23 So, I'm also the social services commissioner 24 for Chautauqua County, so, I'm seeing this on both 25 ends. 1 And as far as our jail medical services, at 2 one time, if the jail medical services were run 3 underneath the local health department, it was 4 eligible for 36 percent State aid under Article 6. 5 That was eliminated by the State. 6 That was the only source of any such 7 reimbursement. 8 All jail medical and mental-health services 9 are completely funded by local-taxpayer dollars. 10 There is no reimbursement. There's no 11 ability to bill insurance or Medicaid. All coverage 12 stops the day the person enters the jail. 13 So I think when you have the captive 14 audience, as Sheriff Gerace said, we've got to be 15 able to, somehow, put some resources in there to get 16 the help and the services into that jail that we 17 can. 18 We can't put that on the backs of local 19 taxpayers anymore. 20 And, if this is the way we're going to have 21 the populations in the jail, by being so many people 22 that are pregnant and are drug-addicted and have 23 mental-health issues, then we better decide that 24 we're going to treat them appropriately while 25 they're there. 1 And we ask for your help with that. 2 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Commissioner. 3 Thank you very much. 4 [Applause.] 5 SENATOR YOUNG: Senator Gallivan's pointing 6 out that we have done some things in the Senate to 7 address that. 8 We need the Assembly, however, to come along. 9 And I know Assemblyman Goodell is very 10 supportive, but we need the Assembly Speaker and 11 leadership to support this legislation that we've 12 put forward. 13 I just want to say, sincerely, thank you to 14 everyone for sharing, for contributing their ideas, 15 their own experiences here, today. 16 This type of input is extremely beneficial, 17 and so very valuable, because, in Albany, sometimes 18 people are making decisions, that don't truly 19 understand what is happening in our school 20 districts, in our communities, in our jails, with 21 our law enforcement, with our educators, with our 22 health professionals. 23 And, so, with the information that you gave 24 us today, it really and truly is going to make a 25 difference. 1 We came up -- we wrote down a lot of notes. 2 The -- we have a 25-bill package that we're 3 passing in the Senate. 4 I suspect that there will be even more bills 5 that will be introduced, based on the testimony that 6 we've heard. 7 So I want to thank you. 8 And I want to turn this over to 9 Michael Kimelberg from the Seneca Nation of Indians. 10 But, truly, thank you to the nation, to 11 President Snyder, to the Tribal Councilors, and 12 everyone who made this happen today. 13 This is unprecedented. 14 And, our work is just beginning. 15 So this is a great conversation to have, but, 16 as Chief Masullo said, we need to pay attention to 17 this every single day. 18 And that's what we will strive to do. 19 So, thank you, everyone. 20 [Applause.] 21 MICHAEL KIMELBERG: Thank you, Senator Young. 22 I would just echo your sentiments of 23 gratitude to everyone in this room for spending 24 three hours out of your day. 25 This was a very productive dialogue. 1 And, you know, really, I think there's some 2 very specific comments, suggestions, and 3 recommendations peppered throughout the discussion. 4 But sort of a major takeaway for me is the 5 wealth of skilled and determined and compassionate 6 individuals and groups tackling this issue on a 7 daily basis, through many different facets and very 8 different approaches to it. 9 And really a key, I think for the region, 10 is -- and certainly from the government's 11 standpoint, is: How does legislation, insurance 12 reform, and funding efficiently and effectively 13 support the work of the individuals and the groups 14 who are doing the -- really, the hard work every 15 day? 16 So to that end, the question is, What's next? 17 This is a terrific forum, but there's some 18 real opportunities for meaningful and substantive 19 follow up. 20 One, we'll certainly be eager to see the 21 legislation that emerges from the forums that have 22 been held over the last few months. 23 But, two, I think from the nation's 24 perspective, we've really been able to recognize 25 some potential partners and people that we can 1 follow up with on more specific and focused issues 2 within the larger, you know, drug problem. 3 And it's that community dialogue, that 4 continued dialogue, moving towards solutions, which 5 is where we really want to focus our efforts. 6 So I think, you know, we've taken a lot of 7 notes. I've written down a lot of names, in terms 8 of follow up with specific some folks here. 9 And we really look forward to continuing that 10 dialogue. 11 I just want to give the opportunity to some 12 of our drug task-force members for any concluding 13 thoughts, if you want to chime in. 14 RICHARD NEPHEW: I'd also like to thank 15 everyone for coming today. 16 Our issues are the same, our struggles are 17 the same. 18 We're trying hard to deal with what we can 19 get our hands around here within the Seneca Nation. 20 We're doing a lot of good things. 21 This beautiful building we're meeting in 22 today is part of our response to provide our people, 23 young and old, an alternative, a healthy 24 alternative, a place to go, for recreation, sports, 25 activities. 1 We also have another program called "Food Is 2 Our Medicine," to bring back to -- a message to our 3 people to eat healthy. 4 We can provide these things, but they do no 5 good if no one comes. 6 The food does no good if nobody eats them. 7 Our young people need to know that they have 8 very much control over their lives and to make good 9 decisions. 10 Life is about choices and decisions. 11 And that's part of the challenge that 12 I believe we have here at the Seneca Nation, is to 13 teach our children the difference. 14 And it's a challenge. 15 We can't make our kids come here. 16 We can provide an opportunity. 17 We can't make them change their diet. 18 We can provide them the opportunity to learn 19 about it. 20 It's never going to end, because we're -- 21 I've done a lot of thinking about this over the 22 years that we've struggled with this here. 23 And we're dealing with human nature: the 24 human nature to seek pleasure, and to avoid pain. 25 And that's what these substances do for many 1 people. 2 So there needs to be, again, healthier 3 choices, different choices, than what we're used to. 4 And it's a change of culture, and that's what 5 I was going to -- a change in our society; 6 Seneca society and American society, it's really 7 going to make a difference. 8 This issue is never going to end, but good 9 people need to stand up and take up that issue. 10 And I'm glad to see so many good people show 11 up here today and join us in talking about it. 12 So, thank you. 13 [Applause.] 14 JEFFREY GILL: Just as a very short follow-up 15 for everybody that traveled to come here today: 16 First of all, some of you have heard 17 "gononia" [ph.] for the first time, as Travis spoke 18 to us earlier. 19 And the same thing goes along with your trip 20 home, is that, you know, your travel is safe. 21 For those of you who visited the territory 22 for the first time, you know, we appreciate you 23 coming and walking through. 24 There's no barriers at the territory line. 25 There are no barriers at the county line, the 1 village line, the township, the state. 2 As we heard from the DA, heroin travels up 3 the 90 from New York City, coming from out of the 4 country. 5 It doesn't stop. There's nothing there to 6 stop it, other than a community coming together. 7 And when we reference "community," that's 8 everybody sitting at this table and everybody that's 9 willing to listen to what was said today. 10 If you look at it, and you look around, and 11 you see somebody that you haven't seen or you met 12 for the first time, take the time to shake their 13 hand today, and you say to yourself: When will we 14 see one another again? 15 Well, this has come all the way across the 16 state. We're the last one to come together as a 17 forum, but not last one to meet, or meet one 18 another. 19 Until we see one another again, that's our 20 phrase: Not goodbye, but we will see one another 21 again. 22 Thank you. 23 SENATOR YOUNG: [Applause.] 24 DARLENE MILLER: Councilor Gill is correct, 25 of our paths will cross again. 1 And I think today, what I -- the message 2 I hear is, keep the message healthy. 3 And, yes, we have a lot of community members 4 and resources available, but it's our communities 5 who have to take ownership. We're not in this 6 alone. 7 And it feels good to have everyone here today 8 who's concerned, and we all share. 9 There are no borders. There are -- every -- 10 drugs doesn't care who it is. 11 So, we're all in a same canoe this time, 12 paddling together. And we can do this. And we have 13 to keep each other strong. We have to lift each 14 other up. 15 And even though our backpack feels heavy 16 today, and it does right now, but seeing all of your 17 faces and knowing all of you who care. 18 The young man said, Show somebody you care. 19 That's the message. 20 That's a message; take it back to the 21 community, to the families. 22 We went to a -- recently, we had a conference 23 on how to make a healthy nation, and we learned 24 about the jellybean-method approach. 25 And we're all jellybeans. We're all 1 connected. We should all be able to recognize who 2 to go to, when to go to, and use the resources. 3 So I applaud everyone here, and I commend 4 everyone who stayed to listen. 5 And [speaking native language] this week. 6 Thank you for coming. 7 [Applause.] 8 ARLENE BOVA: I just want to say [speaking 9 native language] to everyone. 10 And, I feel a lot of passion in this room. 11 And as we've all spoke, share that. 12 To be able to communicate, you must listen, 13 and you must speak. 14 Our Seneca word for "seeing you again" is 15 "esgogeae" [ph.]. 16 SENATOR YOUNG: And, finally, 17 County Executive Vince Horrigan would like to say 18 just a couple of things. 19 VINCE HORRIGAN: Thank you very much. 20 It is very encouraging to see everyone here, 21 and I thank everybody here for the leadership. 22 In Chautauqua County, we're on a mission. 23 And the substance-abuse problem, the heroin 24 problem, is a premier problem in Chautauqua County. 25 And that's why, as County Executive, I've 1 taken on kind of a 5-part task. 2 One is, our media, the message; not only from 3 the media, but the message to the kids. 4 I think we need to be open to the kids in the 5 high schools, and find out what messages are going 6 to work. 7 Number two is, education and prevention. 8 I think we need to look at additional ways, 9 in addition to what we're doing, to refresh that 10 message and make it relevant to our communities 11 today where we have so many single parents and we 12 have challenges in our community. 13 Number three is, our court system, our 14 probation, and our law enforcement. 15 Those three areas critically play across the 16 lines in this, and we need to have a specific focus 17 on those areas. 18 The fourth, of course, is the treatment, the 19 access to treatment. 20 And, finally, advocacy. 21 And if your county executive or your 22 leadership is not fully engaged, get them fully 23 engaged. And I think that is where we make the 24 difference. 25 When you, as ordinary citizens, raise your 1 voices and say: Enough! We need to get this 2 problem under control. And we're mad as hell, and 3 we're not going to take it anymore. 4 I encourage that. 5 Thank you. 6 [Applause.] 7 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you. 8 Thank you, everyone, for being here today. 9 10 (Whereupon, at approximately 3:42 p.m., 11 the forum held before the New York State Joint 12 Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction 13 concluded, and adjourned.) 14 ---oOo--- 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Public Forum: Western New York Panel Discussion on Heroin Epidemic in the Seneca Nation and Surrounding Areas

Transcript