This week, a bipartisan team of New York state senators announced a round of four hearings around the state addressing the heroin epidemic. The state poison control center received 255 calls about toxic exposures to heroin throughout upstate New York state last year. 82 of those toxic exposures were from Onondaga County.
State senators are turning to police, doctors, and their constituents for proposed solutions to the increase in deaths from opioid overdoses.
Republican state Sen. Rich Funke, from the Rochester area, says he was moved by a visit from mothers who had lost adult children to heroin overdose.
“This taskforce is charged with tackling what I think is a dire situation and tackling it head on, because kids are dying.
One approach lawmakers are considering is more funding for training personnel, including school nurses, to administer Narcan—a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose.
The forums will take place from April 30 to June 2 in Westchester, Monroe, Niagara, and Albany Counties, with more locations and dates to be added this fall.