D.A. creating ‘safe place’ for teen addicts

Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas has allocated $2 million in funds forfeited by convicted criminals for heroin treatment for teenagers ages 13 to 17.

Singas has issued a request for proposals to establish a residential treatment center for Nassau teen addicts who need “a safe place to begin the withdrawal process and obtain long-term treatment.

“There is currently no crisis or withdrawal facility on Long Island for adolescent drug users,” Singas said. “As the national heroin epidemic continues to ravage Nassau families, it’s critical that we address this gap in treatment.”

Art Rosenthal, executive director of the Confide Counseling and Consultation Centre in Rockville Centre, praised Singas for her plan.

“I would like to thank her for having the kind of insight she does and the willingness to do something about this problem,” he said. “It’s kinda like you’re in a war and you’re losing the battle and some general says, ‘These people need reinforcements.’”

In 2013, an average of two people died of heroin overdoses every day in New York, according to the State Department of Health. And the heroin epidemic has showed no signs of letting up ever since, officials say.

Nassau has among the highest rates of heroin addiction in the state. According to Health Department statistics, only Suffolk, Queens, New York and Bronx counties have higher numbers of heroin-related deaths.

“It’s very easy to get heroin in through so many different ways from a short distance away,” Rosenthal said. “East New York, Brownsville, Manhattan, Bronx [are a] 20-minute, half and hour ride. In each of those spots, people go in and pick up heroin and bring it back into Nassau County.”

The district attorney said that the center, when complete, will be one part of her three-pronged approach to battling the heroin scourge, including treatment, education in the schools and “aggressive enforcement against dealers.”

“That’s great. I support that 100 percent,” said Rosenthal. “That’s doing a great service to the county.”

Steve Chassman, executive director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and a graduate of Kennedy High School in Bellmore, said, “History has dictated that without adequate treatment for substance-use disorders, the familiar outcomes have resulted in jails, institutions and death.”

“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem,” said Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, president and CEO of the Mineola-based Family and Children’s Association.

The crisis center, Singas said, is intended to provide interim care and housing while teen addicts are seeking beds at long-term treatment facilities, a “bureaucratic process that can take weeks.”