Poverty, Opioid Crisis Go Hand In Hand, Says Oswego Mayor

By Shenandoah Briere,
Intern, Oswego County Today
OSWEGO, NY – In order to fight the importation, selling and usage of opioids in the Port City, the poverty crisis must be fought as well, said Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow.

“We are trying to implement programs that will better position people from the start,” Barlow said. “If people are on the right track and feel good about themselves and have children, they’re taking the children to school, they’re going to work, they’re less likely to fall into that trap.”

In Oswego City, 29 percent of people live in poverty, according to a 2017 Oswego needs assessment done by consultants at CGR Inc.

The assessment was part of the Learn, Identify, Focus and Transform Oswego anti-poverty program established by the city and Oswego County Opportunities.

In recent years, the city has seen many deaths from opioids and other substances, the mayor said.

This afternoon (Oct. 26), U.S. Rep. John Katko joined President Trump at the White House as he declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency. Following the President’s remarks, Katko issued the following statement:

“I applaud the President for declaring the opioid crisis a national public health emergency. The opioid and synthetic drug epidemic has devastated families in Central New York and communities nationwide. Since coming to Congress, I have made addressing this scourge a top priority and we have taken some key bipartisan steps towards increasing resources available to treat and prevent addiction and to support our law enforcement. However, much more attention is needed.

“I was glad to hear the President outline the need to address the influx of fentanyls into our country. In Congress, I will continue to advocate for bipartisan legislation I have introduced to make it easier to ban these harmful synthetic substances.

“This epidemic is costing our communities greatly, and appreciate the President’s attentiveness to this important issue.”

Opioids are described by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as including “heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone.”

According to a quarterly report done by the state, opioid overdose emergency visits increased by 44 percent from 2015 to 2016 in Oswego County.

Looking at just heroin emergency room visits, which included “pharmaceutically and illicitly produced opioids such as fentanyl,” there was an increase of almost 35 percent.

This report was published in October 2016.

In May 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo started the Heroin and Opioid Task Force.

The task force had the job of finding a solution to the epidemic in New York State, according to the opioid quarterly report.

For the past several years city officials have continued their own crusade against opioids by putting different programs into action, Barlow said.

These include a drug task force, drop boxes for paraphernalia, the Rapid Evaluation for Appropriate Placement initiative and other resources.

Only one person has used the REAP program so far. Barlow said he believes even just helping one person makes an impact.

However, he expects more people to use it as they get more comfortable with it being established in the city, he added.

The drug task force is a partnership among the county district attorney’s office, the city and the sheriff’s department that aims to curb the flow of opioids and other substances into the city, Barlow said.

The ease in which drugs are transported to Central New York is something Barlow said is another big obstacle when tackling the opioid epidemic.

The drop box for the Port City is located at the police department on West Second Street. The box is accessible 24 hours a day, so people can dispose of medications they are no longer using anonymously and safely said Barlow.

Police officers also carry naloxone otherwise known as Narcan, which is administered to someone to reverse an overdose.

A June 2017 fact sheet released by the New York State Department of Health noted that 620 law enforcement agencies are trained in the administration of Narcan.

They found that when Narcan had to be used 88 percent of the people lived.

In total, more than 2,000 officers have used Narcan.

Data from the quarterly report, as of May 2017, shows that in Oswego County there has been an increase in the administration of Narcan by both emergency medical services and law enforcement.

From 2015 to 2016 the total number of naloxone administration reports went from 99 to 110 for emergency medical services and from five to eight for law enforcement.

Teresa Woolson lost her son to synthetic drugs and now educates the community about substance abuse and provides resources through the VOW (Victor Orlando Woolson) Foundation, Inc., which she started in her son’s name.

“It feels good to go out and help people because I can see it in their faces that they’re understanding that this is really a crisis,” Woolson said. “Sometimes death and all these things in the news, you know, it makes it non-emotional anymore because there’s so much of it. But, when I’m on out there talking to people, I don’t know how to put it, but it brings out the emotion.”

Woolson also fights for legislation regarding substances.

She has worked with Assemblyman Will Barkley on passing legislation and is currently working with Sen. John Katko to pass a new bill. The bill would make it so non-regulated substances are put on a temporary controlled substances list until they have been fully researched.

She said this would include several versions of fentanyl.

Farnham Family Services, an addiction treatment center in Oswego helps hundreds of people combat their addiction, said Mary Jo Proietta-Halpern, the clinical services director.

She said one main obstacle they overcame was not providing people easier access to treatment.

“When people are ambivalent about treatment or you know that it is a challenge to get to it, they’re probably not going to follow through with it,” Proietta-Halpern said. “If things are easily accessible and you know in a comfortable environment, people will come and they will follow through with that process. That was the main reason we made this very big decision to offer methadone treatment.”

Before, people seeking help had to drive to Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, which was often a difficult task for many, she added.

By having one that is more local, they are seeing many people come in and get help she added.

Educating younger people (about the danger of drugs) needs to be a priority, the mayor said.

“I believe if you get to children and educate them and get them before the drug gets to them you have a better shot at steering them in the right direction, away from drugs,” Barlow said.

In spring 2016, Barlow and the Oswego City School District brought back the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. With an updated curriculum Barlow said implementing D.A.R.E. into the schools would mean students are being educated on the impact of drugs before encountering them.

A study done by the state regarding each county showed that New York State between 2013 and 2014 had above average percentages for illicit drug dependence or abuse within that year compared to U.S. averages.

Of the age groups, those 25 and younger had higher percentages than those 26 years and older.

Currently, the Oswego City School district is not registered with New York State as having an opioid prevention program. This means that none of the schools in the district carry Narcan.

Barlow said that ultimately the decision to carry Narcan is left up to school district officials and whether they see a need for it.

The Oswego City School District superintendent could not be reached for a comment.

Shenandoah Briere is a Journalism Major and Public Justice Minor at SUNY Oswego
She is the Chief Copy Editor for The Oswegonian missing or outdated ad config

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