Not only is Obamacare a poor health care plan from a policy perspective, but now many doctors and health care professionals believe that it is contributing to one of the worst epidemics facing this nation, our state and Long Island: opioid addiction more

Nassau County police arrested an Oceanside man on drug and weapons charges after he allegedly tried to assault two officers on Austin Boulevard near the intersection of California Place North in Island Park on Friday night. more

Speaking about Thanksgiving weekend travel, President Obama warned jittery Americans to “be careful.” Somehow I don’t think that settled anyone’s nerves. We can do more, and it starts here at home. more

The drug addicts’ brain scans that Dr. Stephen Dewey takes appear in psychedelic shades of red, yellow, green and blue, each indicating a level of brain activity — or inactivity. Red means excited. Blue is dormant. Dewey is the laboratory director for behavioral and molecular neuro-imaging at the North Shore-LIJ Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. In that capacity, he’s put hundreds of addicts’ brains to the test — the positron emission tomography test, that is — seeking to understand precisely what happens to the mind when a pot smoker lights up or a heroin junkie shoots up. And, he has found, it isn’t pretty. more

“Young people should know about the dangers of drug and substance abuse at earlier ages due to the increased amount of drugs on Long Island,” said Nassau County Police Activity League [NCPAL] … more

State and local officials gathered at the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow on Aug. 25 to call for harsher criminalization laws for the sale and use of K2, a street name for a type of synthetic marijuana that has become a popular recreational drug among young adults in recent years. more

“We’re not going to fix anything tonight, we’re not going to solve any problems and we’re not going to judge anybody,” Alexander Tucciarone, chief strategy officer of the Makeshift … more

I cherish a dreamy memory of Mexico. It was 1990, and we were on vacation in Zihuatanejo, then a sleepy fishing village, on the Pacific coast. more

Created in memory of Anthony DiRocco, who committed suicide in September 2014 and named after “Makeshift”, the name of a self-made skateboard/hangout area that Anthony frequented growing up in Oceanside, a new group is forming to tackle mental health, suicide and substance abuse issues. more

I’m seeing good news on all fronts this week, primarily because I choose to. This is a quest: I am seeking the comfort of upbeat stories. more