WHO'S THROWING THE BABIES INTO THE RIVER

Despite feeling blindsided, most of us now know that we are living in the midst of an unprecedented drug epidemic. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), since 1999, the rate of overdose deaths including prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, nearly quadrupled.

Some of the steps taken to save lives include improving prescribing practices and expanding access to medication-assisted treatment and the use of Naloxone.  

Medication-assisted treatment combines talk therapy and medications such as methadone or buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction. Through affordable, accessible and quality care people can recover and go on to live productive lives.

Naloxone is used to treat a narcotic overdose in an emergency situation by reversing the effects of opioids, including slowed breathing or loss of consciousness.

Notwithstanding the increased attention to lifesaving measures, there is less focus on the devastating impact of addiction on children living in families where a parent is addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Perhaps nothing drove home the reality of America’s opioid problem more than the recent photo taken in Ohio of two overdosed adults spread out in the front of a car, while one of their young grandsons looked on from the back seat.

There are more than 8 million children younger than 18 years of age that are growing up in homes with alcohol and other drug-abusing parents. These young people are likely to become alcohol or drug abusers themselves without intervention.

Parental alcoholism and drug addiction influence the use of alcohol and other drugs in several ways including increased stress and decreased parental monitoring.

Children who grow up with an addicted parent learn to distrust to survive. When unpredictability dominates a child’s life, he or she is likely to be wary, always sensing disappointment lurking nearby.

Children growing up with an addicted parent become uncomfortably accustomed to living with chaos, uncertainty and instability. When a child grows up under these conditions, they learn to guess at what normal is, with no roadmap to assist them.

Denial, secrecy, embarrassment and shame are common experiences of children who live with an addicted parent. Even seeking help outside of the family might in itself be seen as an act of betrayal, a step toward revealing the family secret.

Children who grow up with an addicted parent live with an unspoken, emotionally numbing mandate - don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t feel.

Growing up with an addicted family member leaves one with little hope that things will ever change; unless, we take steps to change it. I am reminded of a parable about the small village on the edge of a river.

One day a villager saw a baby floating down the river. He jumped in the river and saved the baby. The next day he saw two babies floating down the river. He and another villager dived in and saved them. Each day that followed, more babies were found floating down the river. The villagers organized themselves, training teams of swimmers to rescue the babies. They were soon working around the clock.

Although they could not save all the babies, the rescue squad members felt good and were lauded for saving as many babies as they could. However, one day, one of the villagers asked: "Where are all these babies coming from? Why don't we organize a team to head upstream to find out who's throwing the babies into the river in the first place!"

Mobilizing resources to pull babies from the river, while neglecting the one’s left behind makes no sense.

Andrew Malekoff is the Executive Director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which provides comprehensive mental health services for children from birth through 24 and their families. To find out more, visit www.northshorechildguidance.org. 

SHORTSIGHTED CUTS TO DRUG TREATMENT

http://www.newsday.com/opinion/letters/letter-shortsighted-cuts-to-drug-treatment-1.4809203

Shortsighted cuts to drug treatment

Andrew Malekoff

March 14, 2013

Regarding the escalating drug problem on Long Island ["Deadly turn to heroin," News, March 11], six months ago, County Executive Edward Mangano held a news conference on the growing heroin and prescription pill problem in Nassau County. He stood with the mothers of children who died from drug overdoses.

To remedy this he announced that Nassau had been certified by the New York State Department of Health to train its employees, as well as families of at-risk individuals, in administering the overdose-reversal agent Narcan to anyone who has ingested large amounts of opioids like heroin.

Any step to save lives is welcome. However, at the news conference there was no mention of $7.3 million in human services funding that was cut on July 5, 2012, which included $1.75 million for outpatient drug treatment.

I am reminded of the parable about the small village on the edge of a river. One day a villager saw a baby floating down the river. He jumped in the river and saved the baby. The next day he saw two babies floating down the river. He and another villager dived in and saved them. Each day that followed, more babies were found floating down the river. The villagers organized themselves, training teams of swimmers to rescue the babies. They were soon working around the clock.

Although they could not save all the babies, the rescue squad members felt good and were lauded for saving as many babies as they could. However, one day, one of the villagers asked: "Where are all these babies coming from? Why don't we organize a team to head upstream to find out who's throwing the babies into the river in the first place!"

Mobilizing county resources to pull babies from the river while simultaneously cutting back on activities to prevent the babies from being tossed into the river in the first place makes no sense.

Andrew Malekoff

Editor's note: The writer is the executive director of the nonprofit North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center in Roslyn Heights.

NATALIE CIAPPA'S LAW

Natalie Ciappa’s Law

By Andrew Malekoff©

One month ago the Nassau County legislature passed a bill that requires police to notify school districts about heroin arrests. The bill, Natalie Ciappa’s Law, is named after a teenaged girl from Long Island, who died of a heroin overdose in June, 2008.

My heart goes out to Natalie’s family and to the growing number of families on Long Island that grieve the loss of their children to heroin and other addictions. Having worked in the addictions field for over three decades there are a few simple truths that I have learned. One is that drug addiction is a disease that destroys families. Another is that it doesn’t have to.

A Disease Suffered Secretly

Those that are afflicted with heroin addiction and their families have been stigmatized by an unforgiving society that view it not as an illness but as the consequence of a moral failing, lack of will power or poor parenting. Although progress has been made in dispelling such damaging myths, I am afraid that we still have a very long way to go.

Most people with physical illnesses are the beneficiaries of widespread understanding, sympathy and support. Not so with addiction. Can you imagine for a moment lecturing a parent whose child is diagnosed with brain cancer and telling them that if they had enforced an earlier curfew that the cancer could have been prevented. Such is the twisted logic of the self righteous and ignorant who refuse to accept that addiction is a disease that does not discriminate by race, faith, upbringing or privilege.

The stigma of addiction necessitates that it is most often suffered secretly, only deepening the pain for all that care for an addicted child. Public support must replace secret pain; and therein lies the challenge in Natalie Ciappa’s Law. With this law comes enormous responsibility. School officials will no longer be able to keep a straight face and say, “There is no drug problem in my school district.”

A Call to Action

Will the passing of this law bring with it dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders that will ensure that notification of arrest information will cause no further damage to suffering families? Will the passing of this law protect and prevent others from criminal activity, and also help young people and families to find and get the help that they need?
The answer to these questions is: It depends. It depends what school district leadership does with it. I assure you that it will not be easy. But nothing worth fighting for ever is.

Natalie’s Ciappa’s Law will shake things up and create dilemmas and concerns among school officials, family members and others. Sometimes it is worth the risk to shake things up in order to make a difference.

Beyond notification, I hope that the law that bears her name will do two things. First, I hope that it will serve to remind all parents that Natalie was not a bad girl. She was a beautiful young woman who suffered from an insidious and progressive disease. In addition to the good that it can do, passing this law is a step towards publicly restoring Natalie’s good name and the dignity that she deserves in death. Second, I hope that the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) will provide adequate funding and strong leadership for drug and alcohol treatment for teenagers and their families.

Natalie’s Legacy

Finally, although there are those that believe strongly that this new law is flawed, either because it does not go far enough to expose other illegal drug activity or because it goes too far in exposing vulnerable individuals, it is my hope that Natalie Ciappa’s Law will be a step forward in the ongoing march to ensure that all our children are healthy and safe.

Originally published in the Anton Newspaper chain, Long Island, NY in January 2009.