SEPTEMBER 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 67
A 41-year-old man found unconscious after overdosing on opioids in the driver's seat of a car in 2017. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo)
ROAD TO RECOVERY
OPIOID EPIDEMIC FLARES UP, BUT HELP’S ON THE WAY
BY TIMOTHY BOLGER
Not long after several drug manufacturers and pharmacy chains agreed to pay multimilliondollar
settlements to resolve lawsuits holding Big Pharma accountable for its role in the
opioid epidemic, a rash of fatal overdoses on Long Island underscored that the fight is far
from over.
Local leaders are setting up committees to debate how to allocate the funding slated for
government coffers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and beyond while authorities investigate
the source of the fentanyl-laced cocaine that left six dead last month. Advocates say a hard
road lies ahead.
“There is an opioid epidemic sweeping this country and addiction doesn’t discriminate,” said
Roy Kearse, vice president of recovery services and community partnerships at Samaritan
Daytop Village, the Queens headquarters of one of New York’s largest health and human
services nonprofit organizations. Kearse is in recovery himself.
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