BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 5, 2017 15
ENGAGING THE FAITH COMMUNITY IN
THE FIGHT AGAINST OPIOID ADDICTION
Substance misuse, particularly
opioid addiction, continues to rise
across the country, the state and
the city at alarming rates. After
the city saw a 66 percent increase
in overdose deaths between 2010
and 2015, 1,300 New Yorkers died
of a drug overdose in 2016
– a 39 percent increase
from the year before,
and more than twice
as many people as
were murdered or
died in car accidents
combined.
Approximately 80
percent of overdose
deaths in 2016 involved
opioids, and
nearly 60 percent
were due to heroin
use. This epidemic is destroying
families and costing lives, and
there are no easy answers or
solutions.
I applaud Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman's efforts to
hold pharmaceutical companies
accountable, but we need a
multi-pronged approach at the
grassroots level. City programs
like ThriveNYC and Healing NYC
are raising awareness among
New Yorkers to the availability of
resources including counseling,
peer support and the overdose-reversing
medication Naloxone.
We need to support these admirable
initiatives and other outreach
programs that are working
to make a difference.
Stigma and taboo are both prevalent
barriers to combating this
problem. As we turn to credible
messengers to deal with violence
through the lens of a public health
crisis, we need to turn to clergy
leaders as credible listeners and
responders.
We need to meet people where
they are by making it easier for
those suffering with opioid addiction
to seek help in an environment
where they feel comfortable.
People grappling with addiction
may not be ready to walk into a
clinical setting at first, but they
might be willing to confide in their
local faith leader with whom they
may have an established relationship
built on trust.
Those of us who maintain
relationships with faith
leaders do so because
we can go to them in
confidence for guidance
and support for
a variety of different
problems. In order to
make an impact in the
fight against drugs in
our neighborhoods,
we need to connect
community members
with someone they
trust and break the cycle of fear
and stigma.
Houses of worship deal with crises,
big and small. People rushed to
them during and after Hurricane
Sandy because they are natural
sanctuaries that should be utilized
more to combat this epidemic at the
community level.
Earlier this year, ThriveNYC
organized its second annual Weekend
of Faith, engaging clergy from
across the city in mental health
and substance misuse training,
and the Department of Health
and Mental Health (DOHMH) and
other city agencies already provide
training and Naloxone distribution
to opioid overdose prevention
programs and community-based
organizations.
Government must make resources
available to reach every corner
and avenue of our city and let them
know help is there. We need to empower
the faith-based community
and partner with them more than
ever in this battle that we must win
to protect families better.
City Councilmember Mark
Treyger represents Coney Island,
Sea Gate, Bath Beach, Gravesend
and Bensonhurst.
BK SNAP S
84TH STREET BETWEEN FIFTH
AND SIXTH AVENUES.
Photo by Christopher Benedetto
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GUEST OP-ED
THE HOT TOPIC
STORY: No R train service between 36th Street and 95th Street this weekend
SUMMARY: Late last week, this paper posted a story online to warn readers
that, once again, there would be no R train service between 36th Street and 95th
Street over both the weekend of September 23 and this coming weekend. The
shutdown -- which took place from Friday, September 22 at 11:45 p.m. through
Monday September 25 at 5:00 a.m. and will do the same the weekend of September
29 -- angered a number of southern Brooklyn straphangers who already feel
they are being slighted by the MTA.
REACH: 7,783 (as of 9/25/17)
BY CITY
COUNCILMEMBER
MARK TREYGER
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