(Long Island, NY) Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory will join with local health and police officials at a news conference calling for 1.1 billion dollars in emergency Federal Funding to battle the surging heroin crisis on Long Island, Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 11:30 AM, William J. Lindsay County Complex, William H. Rogers Building, 725 Veterans Memorial Highway, Smithtown, NY. The Obama administration is calling for $1.1 billion over the next two years to combat the growing health crisis. Long Island has one of the highest rates of heroin and opiate drug abuse in New York. Funding will support local agencies that treat and help prevent drug addiction.
Local officials will urge Congress to immediately pass an emergency funding bill to battle the major drug epidemic in Long Island. Funds will greatly bolster Long Island’s efforts to end the crisis.
According to the Center for Disease Control, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled, and the number of heroin deaths in Suffolk County has nearly tripled since 2010. Two Americans die of drug overdoses every hour and 2,500 youths aged between 12 and 17 abuse prescription drugs for the first time every day. Resources are badly needed for communities and families in dire need of relief to stem the drug crisis.
