Keyword: 'drugs' | Herald Community Newspapers

The Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center, headed by Executive Director Wendy Tepfer, hosted a forum on Wednesday, “The Dangers In Your Medicine Cabinet,” which looked at the prescription-drug abuse epidemic now plaguing New York, including Nassau County.

Bellmore-Merrick Parent Center confronts Nassau’s pill epidemic

They’re called “pharm parties,” short for pharmacy parties. A group of teenagers –– perhaps as young as 12 and 13 years old –– methodically swipe opiate-based pain killers like Oxycontin and Oxycodone from their parents’ and grandparents’ medicine cabinets, dump the pills into a big bowl when no adult is looking and take turns rolling a die. Whatever number comes up, that’s the number of pills a teen must ingest. more

By Scott Brinton, sbrinton@liherald.com | 1/12/12

Saul Lerner, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s director of health, athletics and driver’s education, served as a keynote speaker at a Long Island Youth Safety Coalition conference, “Drunk, Drugged, Drowsy and Distracted: Using School and Community to Create Comprehensive Solutions to Dangerous Driving.” He was joined here recently by Wendy Tepfer, executive director of the Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center.

Hofstra conference takes on dangerous driving

For decades, public health officials have hammered home a message –– smoking kills. They have done so in splashy advertising campaigns and in the halls of government. Any number of laws and ordinances prohibiting smoking in public venues have been passed as a result. These efforts, officials say, have paid dividends. more

By Scott Brinton, sbrinton@liherald.com | 12/6/11

Art Rosenthal, Confide Counseling’s executive director.

Addiction agencies await funding

It’s happening again, and the timing couldn’t be worse. State funds earmarked for Nassau County substance abuse programs are being held up and the agencies awaiting them are fending off crises at an unprecedented rate. Battling stoically against an ongoing heroine epidemic as well as a shameful spate of drunk driving fiascoes, neighborhood drug counseling agencies in Baldwin, Rockville Centre, Franklin Square and other areas are still awaiting a “January advance” they say the county has received but has yet to distribute. more

By Judy Rattner and Chris Connolly | 2/23/11

The federal deficit — a thorn in the taxpayer’s side

Last week, I took part in an insightful panel on Fox Business News on which we focused the debate on government waste. Although I went postal after one of my fellow panelists made rather ignorant remarks, some of the issues we discussed will really blow your mind. more

Al D'Amato | 9/30/10

Immigration reform, up close and personal

Each spring the men poured out of rickety trucks and lived in a barn that smelled of pesticides for the next six months. They seemed always to be joking, but their weatherworn faces told a different story about their lives — one of hardship. more

Scott Brinton | 9/4/10

Meryl Camer, center, program director for the Valley Stream-based Peninsula Counseling Center, said teens will listen to adults about drugs if they are shown respect and given objective information. Camer is joined here by John Kastan, PCC's executive director, and Lois Goldsmith, its associate director.

Stopping kids from doing heroin

Final part in a series. Why does anyone -- let alone a young person full of life -- start snorting or shooting heroin, an opiate known to cause near-instant addiction and possibly a lifetime of suffering? more

Scott Brinton | 8/17/10

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice is taking a tough-as-nails approach to nabbing heroin dealers.

D.A. taking hard line on heroin

Part six in a series. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice made a name for herself with her tough-as-nails prosecution of drunken drivers. Now, as the use of heroin has spread on Long Island, it's little surprise that the headstrong D.A. is taking a hard line. more

Sari Zeidler and Deirdre Krasula | 6/17/10

The unions are our friends

My father served as a union president — a teachers union president — in Suffolk County nearly four decades ago, in the days when educators like him were given little respect, and even lower wages. more

Scott Brinton | 6/3/10

50 cent heroin: Confiscated bags of heroin stamped with the name "50 cents" after popular rap artist 50 Cent.

Nassau Police Dept's heroin squad –– out of the public eye

Part six in a series. Happening upon this seemingly abandoned lot might leave you with the feeling that you're about to witness a late-night drug deal, but in fact, you would have stumbled on one of the places that heroin dealers and addicts fear most. It's the heart of the Nassau County Police Department's Heroin Task Force. Much of what happens here is kept under wraps. Police asked that the address be kept confidential. The following is what authorities can share. more

Sari Zeidler and Deirdre Krasula | 6/2/10

County exec betting on Nassau’s future?

After some seven years of studies, community meetings, press conferences and tens of millions of dollars spent on planning and consultants, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum remains an aging concrete behemoth surrounded by 77 acres of cracking asphalt. It is a glaring eyesore in one of the nation’s wealthiest counties. more

5/6/10