Congressman John Katko
FULTON – U.S. Representative John Katko (NY-24) announced today (March 30) that he will host his fourth public town hall event focused on combating heroin and synthetic drug abuse.
The event will be held on April 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Cayuga Community College’s Fulton Campus.
Like his past events, Representative Katko will be joined by a panel of community advocates and parents, healthcare professionals, educators, prevention and treatment specialists, as well as law enforcement and first responders to answer community questions.
“Heroin and synthetic drug abuse has hit our region especially hard – and in Oswego County, I’ve heard from countless families who are struggling to find treatment,” Katho said. “These important conversations help to educate our entire community on the dangers associated with heroin and synthetic drug abuse and provide resources for parents, young people, and those struggling with addiction.”
The event is free and open to the public.
Only credentialed members of the media will be permitted to tape.
Details are as follows:
A Conversation on Heroin and Synthetic Drug Abuse in Fulton
April 4 at 6:30 p.m.
Cayuga Community College Fulton Campus
CNY Arts Center, 11 River Glen Drive in Fulton
The meeting will be moderated by Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes.
Panelists will include:
· Assistant Fulton Fire Chief David Eiffe
· Fulton City School District Superintendent William Lynch
· Jiancheng Huang, Director of Public Health, Oswego County Health Department
· Michael Batstone, Investigator with the Oswego County Drug Task Force
· Monika Taylor, LCSW, CASAC, Director of Chemical Dependency Treatment Services for Crouse Hospital
· Gina Atkins, RN, Associate Administrator for Behavioral Services at Oswego Health
· Penny Morley, MS, CAS, Prevention Services Director at Farnham Family Services & Member of the Coalition to Combat Substance Abuse
· Alan Francis, MS, Chemical Dependency Counselor for County of Oswego Council on Alcoholism and Addictions, Inc. (COCOAA)
· Teresa Woolson, President of the VOW Foundation & Member of the Coalition to Combat Substance Abuse
· Cori Welch, Leader of “Addiction Awareness, Sharing Without Shame”
Congressman Katko represents the 24th Congressional District, which includes all of Onondaga, Cayuga, and Wayne counties and the western portion of Oswego County.
For more information, please visit https://katko.house.gov or www.facebook.com/RepJohnKatko
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A lot of users are looking for treatment. My thoughts are, how the heck do we stop this mess. I know we need to have treatment for these people but we need to stop them from getting onto it in the first place.
Nothing seems to work, get rid of one drug and another pops up the next day. Don’t know the answer and neither does anyone else.
The root of this problem is the user. If the families that are “struggling to find treatment” would struggle to stop family members from using it the community may be more willing to pitch in. This is not a Victimless crime, the user makes the community the victim. The community needs to find a way to stop the people that are buying and consuming the drugs at which time the “created dilemma” is reduced or eliminated. It isn’t the drug, it’s the dummies!
Agree, the main problem is the user. When will they be held responsible? Stop use and the problem goes away.
The heroin abuse has gotten so bad because Dr.’s over prescribed oxycodone and the like. When it was found out to be very addictive these same Dr.’s cut patients off instead of weaning them off.The addiction takes over and that is why people have turned to heroin. Many people have not educated themselves on addiction and do not understand that a person cannot just STOP. The problem is not the “user” , it is the drug.These pain meds should only be use for long term permanent use for patients with chronic pain that does include more than just cancer as the State would like us to believe. Or it should be used for only a few days for immediate horrible pain but not long enough to get addicted. Educated the Dr.’s . And for those patients that have gotten addicted, it is not there fault, they need help, rehab,support and the State should be paying for it.
Thank you. So the entire solution to this problem lies with uneducated providers, and uneducated victims who were prescribed and an uneducated public? If you have statistics to confirm your response, that the user bears absolutely NO blame and there are NO others who simply experiment and play with death, it does in fact shed light on the solution, but I doubt that is the case. When you encourage a user by advertising you have a cure for overdose, we have another taxpayer drug everywhere so just have you friend call when you go down and we’ll save you, you open a Pandora’s Box. If providers are no longer prescribing the cause, why are the # of deaths on the rise? It still looks like another, never ending government program to treat vs cure. Ithaca has recently opened a facility where people can go to overdose, intentionally!!!! WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?? Government forbids houses of prostitution and gambling but is ok with intentional drug overdosing? I have no qualms about providing healthcare for those in need but I do have qualms about building another tax payer funded program to create more big government jobs and programs and promoting the value of reduced personal responsibility.
I can guess by your response Don that you have been lucky enough to have never had addiction touch you and your family, or you would know what the word “addiction” means.
I would think that most people have gotten addicted to drugs because of experimenting and yes it is stupid and those people need to own up. But, they now have a disease called addiction and yes it is a disease and unfortunately it is here to stay. People are getting addicted because there are scum bag drug pushers that CAN’T be stopped and I don’t think anyone will ever be able to come up with a solution. I should of been clearer about uneducated Dr.”’s. I think this first wave of heroin addiction was the lack of education Dr.’s received from the Pharmaceutical Companies and they have not in the past few years taken the best precautions to wean patients down and or help to get them into rehab. I have never heard of any one “intentionally overdosing” unless they were trying to kill themselves and that is call suicide and that is a different problem. The facility in Ithaca was opened to get dirty needles of the street possibly containing the HIV virus.hepatitis ect.. also there are nurses standing by to prevent accidental overdosing where people are given Narcam that TOTALLY reverses the effects of the heroin or whatever is injected. There are a lot of good Docudramas on t.v. , news/magazine stories. Watch,listen read and learn.
This condescending response is way off base. For you to assume you know I have never faced addition shows your lack of education and highlights your ignorance and arrogance. I can only hope this response is not from John Katko himself, because if it is he has lost a supporter. People like you that assume you have answers before you ask the question is counterproductive to your stated mission! This response also confirms to me that YOU haven’t experienced enough of life and it’s difficulties, wherein YOU were held responsible. I was cured of my addiction by a firm and steady demand that I clean up my life and my bad habits or face severe consequences, and that approach worked until bleeding hearts, like yours, jumped in with imaginary theories that you can fix one wrong with another, that being the lack of responsibility from the people who are creating the problem. As stated previously, I am in favor of providing healthcare whether mental or physical to all who were truly victims but the coddling approach coupled with your open ended treatment methods will only encourage more to take the easy path and result in blowing up something that is controllable if handled properly. You do not need to respond to this because I have a feeling you will only make matters worse but I will continue to follow this topic and hope for the sake of the dummies more than outright and non stop sympathy at taxpayer expense is the only answer.
This is NOT JOHN KATKO. Just a person with an opinion, that does Not assume to have All the answers.
Thank you.