The scourge grows

By Nathan Mayberg
WARWICK — On April 12, Hayley Brown of Pine Island died from a heroin overdose. She was just 21.

Her father, Patrick Brown, wanted the community to know.

“Her death was brought on by a terrible addiction to narcotics. This seems to be an epidemic here in Orange County that she got into,” he wrote in a letter to The Warwick Advertiser.

Brown's overdose was one of 11 heroin overdoses in Warwick through the first four months of the year, and one of at least two fatal drug overdoses during that span.

While statistics do not show heroin arrests soaring throughout Orange County, local police departments see the prevalence of heroin and prescription drugs.

Town of WarwickWarwick Police Department Chief Thomas McGovern said heroin activity has grown in the last five years and that his department is encountering more pills as well as heroin during arrests.

“We're definitely seeing more of that type of activity,” the chief said. “It's here. There is no question about it.”

In 2014, Warwick police responded to 26 overdoses, several of which were fatal.

In 2014, police made 38 arrests for controlled substances, the majority for heroin, McGovern said.

Through May, there were 16 such arrests. Nine of those were for heroin.

In 2014, drug arrests netted 508 decks of heroin, while this year the figure is 60 decks as of May 1.

Most of the arrests are through investigations, though some arrests are made through traffic stops, he said.

Prescription medications have become “way too expensive for the average person” which is leading to more heroin use, McGovern said.

McGovern said his department is looking to go after the sellers more than users.

The heroin that his department is finding “barely scratches the surface of what's out there,” he said.

Since being equipped with Narcan, prescription medicine that reverses an opioid overdose, at the start of the year, the Warwick Police Department have revived people who have overdosed “a couple times,” McGovern said.

McGovern, who has been with the force for 36 years, said heroin use has grown to a point where it's “way out of control.”

“It's not just here, it's everywhere.”

On April 30, Warwick resident Dennis Gillespie, 43, was shot in his car with a 30-year-old Goshen woman in an area of Paterson, New Jersey which police there said is known for heroin distribution.

Village of Goshen Village of Goshen Police Chief James Watt said “we encounter it (heroin) frequently.”

The department is getting twice as many overdose calls, he said. Between June 2013 and February 2015, the department received eight medical calls for overdoses. Four of them were deadly, Watt said.

Starting this year, the department began carrying Narcan to revive those who have overdosed from heroin.

Watt has been with the department for 34 years.

“Drugs are the most prevalent I've ever seen,” Watt said.

Marijuana is prevalent and prescription pills are showing up more.

“Heroin is cheap now. It's not expensive and it's pretty high grade,” Watt said.

Village of MonroeIn May, Village of Monroe police saved two men who overdosed on heroin in the Burger King parking lot On Route 17M by using Narcan.

One of the men was lying on the ground and the other was lying in the back of a box truck. They were 46 and 50 years-old.

Using Narcan, they revived both, Lt. David Conklin said.

They were the third and fourth heroin overdose victims of the year. One was fatal.

Police were not able to save Louis Merrill, 47, of Monroe. Merrill was found in his car on March 22, having overdosed from heroin.

A person who did heroin with Merrill that night, drove Merrill to a CVS parking lot after Merrill was foaming at the mouth from a heroin overdose, Conklin said. Police were later called to help.

If they had gotten the call earlier, they may have been able to use Narcan to save him.

Conklin said there is a Good Samaritan Law in New York which shields those who call in heroin overdoses from being arrested, if they do not have a felony amount of heroin on them.

A few weeks later, police were able to help a 25-year-old Monroe female in time.

They had received a call of a woman passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle in the Stop & Shop parking lot on Route 17M.

When they arrived, they found the woman unconscious with a needle sticking out of her arm, Conklin said.

Officers used the Narcan nasal spray to revive her.

In Monroe, heroin was hardly seen until about 10 years ago, Conklin said.

Conklin said Monroe officers have been seeing “more and more heroin” on the streets.

“It's very easy to get nowadays,” he said.

He believes the cheapness of the drug as have made it more prevalent.

He also believes teenagers experimenting with pain pills are switching to heroin for its cheapness and potency.

On June 25, Monroe police uncovered 166 packages of heroin and more than 44 grams of heroin after a traffic stop.

They arrested Nicholas Belloise, 26, of Monroe.

Orange County Sheriff's OfficeOrange County Sheriff's Department Captain Scott Hamill said “it's been exponential the amount of heroin arrests compared to a few years ago, compared to a decade ago. Heroin is the drug of choice. It's cheap. Even pharmaceutical narcotics are more expensive than heroin.”

Hamill identified heroin's cheapness as part of the problem.

It can cost as little as $4 a bag, he said.

The increase in the use of oxycodone over the years has also led to an increase in heroin.

“Doctors are feeling the pinch,” he said.

Heroin dependency can lead to an increase in shoplifting and burglary arrests, he said.

“When you have an epidemic like the heroin usage going, you are going to have small rises in the other crimes to fuel the ability for the user to get their drugs,” he said.

All of the department's deputies have been equipped with Narcan since the beginning of the year, Hamill said.

According to statistics provided by the Orange County Sheriff's Office, Between Jan. 1 and May 1 of 2015, there were 64 arrests by the department for heroin. That is a decrease from the same period in 2014 when there were 100 heroin arrests for that same time period, according to data from the Sheriff's Office.

There were 224 arrests for heroin in all of 2014 by the Sheriff's Office.