Drug epidemic is subject of local forum

East Meadow is hardly immune to the prescription-pill and heroin epidemic that is plaguing Long Island. Seven local residents in their early 20s have died from overdoses since January.

On May 23, Nassau County Legislator Norma Gonsalves, with cooperation from the East Meadow School District, took part in a Not My Child informational forum at East Meadow High School that was presented by Kristen Fexas, deputy bureau chief of the Nassau County Police Department’s Street Narcotics and Gang Bureau.

According to Fexas, teenagers don’t simply start taking heroin; they switch to it after becoming addicted to expensive prescription pills. She said that addicts cannot afford their pain-pill addiction, but can achieve the same high with a $5 bag of heroin that can be inhaled rather than injected.

Unlike crystal meth, which is not a problem in Nassau County, Fexas said, there are not always obvious physical signs when someone is addicted to heroin. Parents of addicts agree. “With all my experience with addicts, I did not recognize the addiction of my own son, Philip,” said Nora Ammirati, who works with nonviolent addicts at a drug treatment program offered by the Nassau County district attorney’s office.

Ammirati told the forum audience that, six years ago, her son took Oxycontin with a friend who stole the drug from a grandparent. Before Ammirati knew there was a problem, Philip had become addicted to heroin. In the summer of 2008, he forged a check in his mother’s name and she had him arrested. “I was so desperate at that time,” she said, “that I preferred to see my son in jail [rather] than on the street using drugs and committing crimes.”

While Philip was at the Nassau County Correctional Center, Ammirati wrote him a letter, which she read to the gathering: “I miss the wonderful boy that I knew, that I was always so sure was going to grow up into a great man … I always thought if I loved you enough or if I said the right words, you would stop. I wish I had that power.”

As members of the audience fought back tears, Ammirati said that while her other children have gone on to graduate from college, Philip was unable to remain sober, and is now an addict living on the streets in Brooklyn. They no longer speak.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that any one of my children would use heroin,” Ammirati said. Fexas added that this is often what parents say, which is why she urged audience members to ask questions and not to assume anything.

Fexas told listeners to watch for irritability, weight loss, a change in school or work performance, sleeping problems, decreased eye contact and unfamiliar new friends. “Any one of these symptoms could be indicative of nothing,” she said, “but have a conversation if you see any one of these.”

Those at the forum agreed that the presentation was enlightening, but — perhaps because it took place at the same time as a Rangers-Devils playoff game and two middle school concerts — the sparse attendance was disappointing. The crowd numbered no more than about 50.

“It was very informative and designed to be shocking, which is good, but I was very disappointed in the amount of people that turned out,” said Mitchell Allen, East Meadow Kiwanis president.

“[The parents] think they know it all and there is always something more to learn, even if you’re knee-deep in it,” added Helen Meittinis, president of the Community Association of Carman Avenue. “That auditorium should have been packed to the gills.”

Meittinis added that too much freedom and limited accountability allow teenagers to hide their addiction. “You don’t want to see a community lose young lives like we have,” she said. “It’s extremely said.”

Community organization leaders, school board members, parents, and representatives from the district attorney’s office and the NCPD all agreed that children as young as middle school age need to be educated on the effects of drug addiction in order to make informed choices. “They are being expected to make adult decisions about things that have sometimes permanent consequences,” Fexas said, “and they don’t have the information to really give them the opportunity to make safe decisions.”

NCPD Detective Pamela Stark added that with opiate addiction on the rise, it is crucial for parents to hide addictive medications in secure locations.

To learn more about addiction and prevention, visit www.heroinprevention.com. Unneeded prescription drugs can be dropped off at any Nassau County P.D. precinct.