(Long Island, NY) The Senate Joint Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction will be holding the first of 12 statewide forums tomorrow, April 8, 2014, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the Van Nostrand Theatre of Suffolk County Community College’s Brentwood Campus, 1001 Crooked Hill Road, Brentwood.
The forums will solicit input on the rise in the use of heroin and opioids and develop legislative recommendations for treating and preventing addiction and its consequences.
Task force Chairman Senator Phil Boyle (R-C-I, Suffolk County), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, will lead the forum. He will be joined by task force members, experts in the fields of education, law enforcement, mental health and substance abuse, municipal officials, and individuals directly affected by opioid abuse. For more information, go to the Senate website at www.nysenate.gov.
People expected to speak at the forum include:
- Vincent DeMarco, Suffolk County Sheriff
- Tom Willdigg, President, Nassau County Detectives Association
- Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, Executive Director LICADD
- Kathy Brown, Director of Chemical Dependence, Catholic Charities
- Judith Raimondi, President and Founder, Lindy Cares
- Dr. Frank Dowling, Psychiatrist, Stony Brook University
- Dr. Michael F. Ring, Superintendent of Schools, Rocky Point School District
- Arthur and Denise Murr, Parents of a child who had a fatal overdose – Garden City – Compassionate Friends
- Richard Buckman, President, Long Island Recovery Association
- Dr. James Dolan, Director of Mental Health, Chemical Dependency, and Developmental Disability Services for Nassau County
- Dr. Paul Casciano – Superintendent of Schools, William Floyd School District
- Anthony Rizzuto, Provider Relations Representative for Nassau and Suffolk at Seafield Center
- Rene Feitcher, Nassau County District Attorney’s Office ADA – Chair, NC Heroin Task Force
- Christopher R. Wilkins, MHA – Founder and President Emeritus, Loyola Recovery Foundation and Consultant to Alkermes
- John M. Venza, Vice President, Adolescent Services – Outreach Development Corporation
- Robert Ewald, Chief, Narcotics Bureau, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office
- Dr. Steven Margolies, Medical Director of the New York Region, Phoenix House
- Kym Laube, Executive Director, Suffolk Human Understanding and Growth Drug & Alcohol Prevention Services
