‘Approach to a Community Problem’ Seminar Raises Drug Abuse Awareness

VILLAS – “Lower Township has a substance abuse problem, but no more than any other town in South Jersey, and any mayor or council who denies that has a bigger problem than we do,” said Mayor Michael Beck during the “Lower Township’s Approach to a Community Problem” seminar on Sept. 23 at Township Hall.
A large crowd filled the room, eager to learn how different branches of the county are dealing with what has become a heroin epidemic. Beck formed an in-house substance abuse committee about a year and a half ago to address the problem. When asked why he would dare go public with this information, Beck simply stated, “Because we have to.”
“We’re not going to sit back and pretend it’s not there,” he continued. “It’s not fair to you, it’s not fair to the township, and it’s not fair to the kids.”
The evening began with Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor and what the Prosecutor’s Office has been doing to stem the problem. “Last year we seized over 3,500 bags of heroin,” said Taylor. He added that this year they would easily surpass that number.
“As of right now we’ve had 20 deaths this year alone related to heroin overdoses,” said Taylor. “91 overdoses as of last week, with five overdoses in Lower Township in the last week. That’s frightening.”
One of the reasons for the rise in overdoses has to do with the purity of the heroin, explained Taylor. Doses of heroin are mixed with sugars, powdered milk, starch, and the like. The national average for heroin purity is 35 percent; however, the heroin being distributed in Cape May County is 63 percent pure. According to Taylor, that level of purity could cause immediate addiction or death in a novice user.
Taylor said that parents need to start talking to their children while they’re still in middle school. He held up a poster being circulated by the prosecutor’s office that read, “In only one year heroin deaths of 18-25 year-olds in New Jersey rose 24 percent. They didn’t all start at 18. Are you talking to your kids yet?”
Senator Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) echoed Taylor’s pleas. “Your kids have to understand what it’s like to be hooked on heroin,” Van Drew said. He also expressed a need for more treatment facilities in South Jersey. “It’s not just putting people in prison,” Van Drew said. “And putting them in prison over and over and over again doesn’t save their life and it doesn’t help society.”
But for some, prison is the only answer, and Van Drew said he, and his colleagues were working on tougher sentences for dealers funneling heroin into Cape May County. “These are the folks who should go to jail and they should go to jail for an even longer time,” he said.
Van Drew praised the work of council and people like Michael DeLeon, a former gang member who founded Steered Straight, an organization devoted to helping keep young people and adults away from drugs. DeLeon spent 12 years in prison for drugs and gang involvement. He presented a short video from a documentary he produced called, “Kids Are Dying.”
“I got a member of my family killed and that didn’t stop my gang involvement,” said DeLeon. “I’m the example of the person we don’t want our kids to grow up to be. I don’t want my past to be their future.”
The documentary, which is under consideration at HBO and A&E, follows addicts and family members of addicts. The images from the film act as a cautionary tale. Faces, once full of youth and hope for the future, have been ravaged by drug use. When asked, in the film, where the users see themselves in one year, five years, the response is almost always the same – dead.
“If we don’t start screaming right now, the problem’s going to get a lot worse,” DeLeon said after telling the crowd that Cape May County has the number one crime per capita in New Jersey.
Part of that solution involves law enforcement, but as Lower Township Police Chief William Mastriana shared, parents need to be the first line of defense when it comes to keeping their children off drugs.
“Don’t be afraid to question them,” Mastriana advised. “I think sheltering your children is a mistake. If we don’t talk to them about it, someone else will.”
According the Mastriana, the department has already made 60 drug arrests this year, compared to 69 in 2012.
Lower Cape May Regional School District Superintendent Chris Kobik asked parents for cooperation. “The school can’t change the problem,” he said. “We need parents who are willing to say, ‘maybe there is a problem, and let’s try to address it.’”
To promote itself as a positive place for students, the schools offer a host of athletic programs and clubs. Additionally, students have the opportunity to earn college credits. According to Kobik, the teachers and staff also go above and beyond their assigned duties to help keep the children goal-oriented.
Aside from early education, the cry for better treatment facilities was repeated throughout the night. “My personal goal is to try and build a better recovery support in county,” said Pat Devaney, director of Cape May County Human Services. “Once our kids go to treatment, they have nothing when they come out. They need to believe in themselves, they need to have hope, they need to experience life not high and know that there is some kind of value in what they are.”
Devaney said that admission for 18-24 year-olds has increased by 154 percent since 2006. She also explained that in 2009, 30 percent of drug users admitted to heroin being their drug of choice. Last year that number rose to 43 percent.
Kathryn Gibson, of Cape Counseling Services, also shared some startling statistics. She explained that of the children seen at Cape Counseling, 27 percent said heroin was their drug of choice, compared to just 9 percent in 2009. And with no income, these children were turning to adult crimes, like burglary and drug dealing, to fuel their addictions. For some, wanting to belong is a strong enough reason to start taking drugs.
“At 13 and 14, having a friend and being accepted is way more important than anything I can say, anything parents can say, and that’s what we need to understand that the more we can surround them with a community, whether it’s the schools, counselors, family, any support you have, recreation, and giving these kids an opportunity to do something positive, to feel good about themselves, that’s the only way for these kids to be better and to want future goals,” said Gibson.
Pat Campbell, director of Families Matter which, like Cape Counseling Services, offers substance abuse and mental health services in individual, group, and family settings, spoke about an alternative to Methadone and Suboxone. Vivitrol is a once monthly injection, that when used in conjunction with counseling, has been proven extremely effective. The patient no longer craves the heroin and withdrawal symptoms are non-existent.
Campbell also told the crowd of a new program starting Oct. 19 for family members of those with addiction. “Saturday Morning Coffee” is a free meeting that will be held every Saturday at the Families Matter office on Bayshore Road in Villas at 10:00 a.m.
The last speaker of the night was Chris Coombs, a young man born and raised in Lower Township. Coombs started drinking and smoking marijuana at 14-years-old. What began as a good time on a Friday night, quickly spiraled into a whirlwind of jail, hospitalization, and trips to rehab.
Now, with just over a year of sobriety behind him, Coombs credits Alcoholics Anonymous with keeping him on track. “I’ve been given this gift of sobriety,” said Coombs. “I enjoy giving back what was given to me.”