Soundview Com’ty Drug Free group has $62K to stop drugs, vaping
BY ALEX MITCHELL
In efforts to prevent drugs
from swamping their community,
the Soundview Community
Drug Free Coalition
is implementing new strategies
to thwart adolescent substance
abuse.
The coalition announced
that it’s been awarded $62,000
in grants from both the NYC
Department of Health and
Comptroller’s offi ce to combat
drug addiction, with $12,000
specifi cally earmarked to
eliminate vaping and e-cigarette
use during it’s monthly
meeting on Tuesday, January
15.
The coalition’s crackdown
on vaping stems from the common
practice of placing laced
drugs, such as marijuana, in
the vape cartridge instead of
tobacco oil, explained Dr. Jose
Rivera, who works with the
coalition.
From a clinical perspective,
marijuana, eventhough
it isn’t considered to be a gateway
drug, it is from an environmental
view, Dr. Rivera explained.
“Where you can buy a(n illegal)
knife, you can usually
buy a gun,” Rivera said, ex-
The Soundview Community Drug Free Coalition. Silvio Pacifi co
plaining that his metaphor illustrates
the dire situation on
the street. A teenager buying
marijuana will most likely be
exposed to worse, more addictive
substances, such as fentanyl,
a synthetic, potentially
deadly opioid like heroin, he
explained.
That exposure can come in
the form of laced marijuana
which an unknowing teenager
can be inadvertently effected
by.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 14 ANUARY 25-31, 2019 BTR
“One fl ake of fentanyl in
marijuana may not kill you,
but now you’re on an opioid
high, and the next time your
body needs to get high it’s going
to begin to crave more
than marijuana,” Rivera said.
That’s only part of the problem
at hand, another coalition
member said.
Anne Johnson explained
how Bronx drug use has risen
14% since 2017, citing K2 synthetic
marijuana as one of the
major causes along with combinations
of crack and standard
cocaine being combined
into one product.
“Our plan to raise awareness
is to recruit schools and
recruit community centers to
promote anti-drug use,” Johnson
said, mentioning part of
that plan will be to distribute
anti-drug fl yers to bodegas that
are on board with the program.
“It’s more than a fl yer, it
will say on the door “we don’t
sell drugs here,” and that’s big
for us,” Johnson mentioned.
More in-depth parts of the
coalition’s combative plan
are to learn from the students
themselves: which drugs are
circulating in which schools,
and who are kids using drugs
and when? Ideally this information
would lead to exposing
the dealers and sources.
Johnson continued to explain
that street drugs are
rapidly changing. New ingredients
and supplements are
frequently being concocted to
over stimulate a user, to make
them come back for more.
“We know people are using
bed bugs to get high, it sounds
disgusting but that’s the types
of issues we have to deal with,”
Johnson said, noting that the
insects are inhaled to get a
quick fi x.
“(Persciption drugs) are
the easiest to access. You don’t
have to go to a street corner
or meet up with someone. You
just have to go into the medicine
cabinet,” she added, pointing
out the clandestine misuse
of household remedies that
have made legal pharmaceutically
prescribed medicines as
a perpetuator of the problem.