More than 50 people packed in to the Falls Township public meeting hall Friday night for an emotional forum on the opioid epidemic sweeping Pennsylvania and Lower Bucks County.
“As your state representative, I recognize the impact heroin has had in Pennsylvania and right here in lower Bucks,” State Rep. John Galloway said at the forum.
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Talking statistics, Galloway mentioned that heroin is now 10 times as deadly as cocaine was at the height of the cocaine epidemic.
“This isn’t a partisan issue, this is an Pennsylvania issue,” Galloway said.
Before moving on to allow other panelists time, Galloway outlined legislation he introduced to the state house which would require schools to teach courses in drugs and alcohol throughout middle and high school, as opposed to programs which stop at elementary school.
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“Nothing I do as your state rep. will ever be more important,” Galloway said.
The rest of the panel included experts and specialists from the area and Pennsylvania. Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub, Executive Director of the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission Diane Rosati, Erin Pressel from Gaudenzia Recovery Center, Bryan Kennedy, the chairperson for the Bucks County Recovery House Association, Falls Township police Lt. Hank Ward, a representative from the Levittown-Fairless Hills Rescue Squad and Carol Rostucher, the president of Angels in Motion.
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The panel spent the time educating the attendees about different services which are offered to people in need and how people who need help can get it.
Rosati outlined a new program called “A Warm Hand Off,” which certified recovery counselors talk to overdose survivors at the hospital.
Pressel spoke about working across organizational boundaries to get anyone help who needs it, even if that means sending someone to Livengrin for treatment when she works for Gaudenzia.
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Kennedy spoke about the importance of registered recovery homes and how living with similarly goal driven people can help out people freshly in recovery.
A theme among the speakers is the idea that if someone needs help, there will always be help available.
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Weintraub talked about the things the county is doing well to combat the heroine epidemic, including getting Narcan into the hands of every police officer in the county, pushing the drug take back programs and cracking down on dealers.
Throughout the night, the conversation seemed to focus on how residents can really get more help.
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The audience also asked questions about prescription legislation and the perceived poor state of some recovery houses in the area.
“This is not the start, and it’s certainly not the end,” said Galloway as the forum wrapped up.
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If you have suspicious drug activity to report, you can do so by following the following instructions from the Bucks County website:
“The first is a telephone line: 1-215-345-DRUG (3784). The second is an e-mail address: drugtips@co.bucks.pa.us. The third, geared at the millennial generation is a text tip line: simply text BUCKSDRUGTIPS to TIP411. It is important to note that all information provided will be anonymous,” officials said.
