Anti-drug coalition plots course for new school year

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“We’re very lucky to be part of a school district that recognizes that there is a problem,” said Eric Caballero, an administrator in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, and co-chair of the Bellmore-Merrick Community Coalition.

Just a few weeks after county officials presented the most recent data on opioid overdose deaths in Nassau, the anti-drug coalition held its first meeting of the school year.

So far in 2017, the Nassau County medical examiner’s office has logged 68 deaths by opioid overdose, 15 by heroin and 32 by fentanyl or one of its analogues. Caballero joined with district staff, local politicians, police officers and community members on Sept. 15 to map out ways to fight back against the epidemic within the school district.

“We don’t know that we’re doing enough training for kids going away to college,” Caballero said, before pitching the idea of incorporating training for the life-saving overdose reversal drug naloxone into the school’s curriculum. Students are already required to learn CPR and how to operate an automated external defibrillator before graduating and, starting this year, they will also be taught how to use an epinephrine injector, in the event of someone having an anaphylactic reaction.

According to Dave Denenberg, one of the original members of the coalition, the first program that group hosted offered naloxone training. Since then, access to naloxone has become a priority for law enforcement when it comes to fighting opioid abuse. “It’s been widely used just in our precinct alone,” said Nassau County Police Officer Daniel Clarke.

Clarke added, however, that many who struggle with addiction are less willing to get help because they know they can be resuscitated in the case of an accidental overdose.

“People who have an addiction know that it’s gonna be there for them,” Officer John Biello said.

To take more preventative measures, Caballero suggested that the district hold a mandatory meeting to educate students on all facets of the drug epidemic before they attend their school’s prom. The class could involve a play that depicts an overdose scenario. Also, graduating seniors could be required to take a quiz on the opioid crisis before they receive their final transcript, coalition members suggested.

“So many of our former students were running into opioid addiction,” said Michael Harrington, a co-chair of the coalition and superintendent and instruction and curriculum. “We need to do a better job reaching out to our families.”

The coalition will be hosting a Drug Take-Back Day on Oct. 28, at which people can safely dispose of their unused and unwanted medication. A previous event ended up taking 1,000 pounds of drugs off the streets. The next meeting of the coalition will be on Oct 3 at the Brookside School in Merrick.