Dorothy Sanchez will never forget the day her son, Jonathan, died from an overdose last September. He was 33 years old.
Sanchez is one of more than 25 community members who joined the June 9 public meeting for Sullivan County’s Substance Use Task Force, a county-led effort with community partners, health officials, and law enforcement officers to improve the lives of those impacted by substance use.
Opioid overdose deaths are declining in Sullivan County, according to county data. At a June 5 legislative meeting, County Coroner Albee Bockman reported that, for the first time in his ten-year tenure, there were no overdose deaths in the county during the month of May.
But Sanchez said that the county’s current solutions are not enough.
“I saw [my son] die with all the efforts that we’re doing, but we’re in a hamster wheel trying to catch them and save their lives because we don’t have an alternative,” said Sanchez. “When we give them NARCAN, then what?”
Sullivan County currently does not have any inpatient treatment programs and diverts patients out of the county, but not for long. Sullivan County Commissioner Liddle shared that the Lexington Center for Recovery will open an inpatient facility at Garnet Health Catskill Harris this fall.
Still, task force coordinator Camille O’Brien said the fight is far from over.
“We don’t wanna take the foot off the gas,” said O’Brien. “As long as there’s still any numbers on the board, we wanna keep moving forward.”
Emerging trends in substance use
Heather Guinan, a nurse practitioner and task force member, shared that intergenerational cycles of substance use are becoming more apparent. According to Guinan, many adults now struggling with addiction are the children of people who were prescribed or using opioids during the 2000s, when opioid prescribing peaked in 2010.
“One of the ways, what I often hear, is that they often got into using was from the medicine cabinet at home, or access was very liberal.”
Guinan also added that healthcare providers are seeing more cases of syphilis and a continued high prevalence of hepatitis C.
Wins so far – and what’s in the way
Sullivan County Commissioner John Liddle said that building a network of providers and cross-sector software that allows different providers to share information and make electronic referrals has been key.
“What’s really phenomenal about it is it’s not just a way to get a referral to a doc. It’s a referral to get to any of these different types of services, nutrition services, housing services, and so on and so forth,” said Liddle.
Sullivan County has also received more funding to combat the opioid epidemic through opioid settlement funds – part of New York State’s share from legal settlements with companies that contributed to the opioid epidemic.
In Sullivan County, Liddle said settlement funds have gone towards school prevention programs, peer services, youth mental health, and homes. Oxford Homes was recently approved for $200,000 in funding to operate sober living homes for the county.
But all $100,533 in unrestricted dollars for opioid settlement funds over the last three years went entirely to law enforcement. Liddle said that this investment is for efforts that do not squarely fall into recovery programs that “we in the task force believe are very important.”
Some of the unrestricted funds are being used to support software that helps the district attorney and sheriff’s offices collect cell phone data on suspected drug dealers, according to Liddle.
“What we’re seeing is that these specific law enforcement tools are helping us get at the supply side,” said Liddle. “It can’t just be a war on drugs. It can’t just be only treatment. We have to work every possible angle to reduce the impact of drugs on our community.”
Policy presents another opportunity for Sullivan County to make progress in combating the opioid epidemic.
The Sullivan County legislature recently voted to amend the County Social Host Law to include cannabis, which allows individuals who host gatherings where cannabis is provided to minors to be held legally responsible.
The task force is also monitoring state-level opioid policy reforms, including a bill that recently passed the Senate requiring certain entities to stock opioid antagonists and store NARCAN nasal sprays near a defibrillator.
While Sullivan County numbers have shown a gradual decline, Liddle reminded the audience that he and his team are still up against a multi-billion-dollar global industry.
“We see that unfortunately, substance use treatment, like a lot of healthcare in this country… it’s a business,” said Liddle. “The business is there to preserve the business, not necessarily the customer. It’s unfortunate, but this is why we’re here.”
The next public Substance Use Task Force meeting is set for early December 2025.
Image: NARCAN Emergency Overdose Kit including a NARCAN nasal spray and how-to intsructions (Photo Credit: Kimberly Izar)