RipLB teamed up with Families in Support of Treatment, known as FIST, to organize the group’s first event, and it was a resounding success. The first hour was a resource fair. Addiction aid groups were set up in the middle school gym, almost like a career fair, with representatives handing out information and talking to people. The second part of the night featured a series of speakers, ranging from professionals in the field to recovering addicts. They spoke about changing the stigma of addiction, how it affects entire families and how to get help, and detailed some of the lobbying efforts that local groups have initiated to change legislation dealing with drug abuse.

“The people who struggle with the disease of addiction, they’re not bad people, they’re sick people who need help,” said Anthony Rizzuto, FIST’s founder.

Last year there were 370 fatal drug overdoses on Long Island, said Steve Chassmann, clinical director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. He said that Long Island has always had a drug scene, but it has changed, evidenced by the rapidly growing number of overdoses. Heroin use has grown due to a crack-down on prescription drugs. When pills became harder to attain, addicts turn to heroin.

One of the biggest obstacles facing those who want treatment is insurance policies. Chasmann said that many insurance companies require that a person fail outpatient treatment before entering inpatient detox, a necessary and usually more successful step in recovery, he said. He has lobbied for changes to insurance law, and he recalled a meeting with state representatives during which a mother took her son’s ashes out of her purse and slammed them down on the table. “That’s what failing outpatient looks like,” she said.

The state approved a series of laws in June aimed at preventing drug abuse, including an effort to help patients who are seeking treatment from being denied care.

“The disease of addiction is a family disease,” Rizutto said. “Everyone needs help. The family needs to recover also.”