7 BRONX WEEKLY January 27, 2019 www.BXTimes.com
Bronx Brewery put on ice by government shutdown
The brewery’s front exterior. Bronx Brewery
Soundview Com’ty Drug Free group has $60K 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, explaining 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.
“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 antidrug
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.
The Soundview Community Drug Free Coalition. Silvio Pacifi co
BY ALEX MITCHELL
The federal government’s
lengthy shutdown has made the
Bronx Brewery sales, along with
almost 7,000 others breweries nationwide,
go fl at.
These craft beer makers rely on
the US Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco
Tax and Trade Bureau’s approval
to label and sell their brews
across state lines.
In the case of the Bronx Brewery,
up to 12 of their beer products
that are distributed to 10 states as
south as Virginia and west as Ohio
are being kept on ice until the federal
agency reopens.
As a matter of fact, even the
TTB’s website has limited service
during the 30-plus days governmental
gridlock.
“We are currently awaiting approvals
on two new products that
without the government functioning,
we cannot distribute across
state lines,” said Bronx Brewery
spokesman Nick Mezansky.
“So, the shutdown restricts our
ability to innovate,” he added.
Innovation is essentially a
cornerstone in the business of
brewing unique and craft beers
like ‘Everyday Hustle,’ a themed
hoppy lager that will make it’s formal
debut during Marco Shalma’s
‘It’s The Bronx’ event at the brewery
on Saturday, January 26.
According to Mezansky, the
Bronx Brewery distributes its different
beers across state lines annually.
“We also distribute up to ten
different beers at a given time,” he
said.
Some of its beers have even
found fans overseas, including
Sweden, Bronx Brewery cofounder
Damian Brown said.
Just to have the TTB approve a
beer’s label is a two to three week
process alone Brown stated, noting
that it would take about fi ve
weeks just to get back up to speed
once the federal agency reopens.
Mezansky continued on to
explain that while the Bronx
Brewery can label and distribute
within the state of New York, the
company’s business strategy is to
release its new beers to its entire
consumer market at once.
While the government shutdown
doesn’t seem to have an
end on the near horizon, warmer
weather days and ‘open season’ is
coming for the Bronx Brewery.
Having two fully-designed and
crafted beers just sitting, waiting
for TTB approval isn’t what the
brewery would prefer to focus its
efforts on just weeks before seasonally
re-opening its outdoor
backyard space.
If you’re beyond the state’s border
and need a cold one before the
federal government re-opens, visit
the Bronx Brewery’s tasting room
at 856 E. 136th Street.
The brewery’s manufacturing room. Bronx Brewery
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