With a fledgling committee on drug abuse working to mitigate an increasingly deadly threat of opiate use in the village of Mamaroneck, a question of prevention versus intervention has emerged at the crux of initial talks.
While discussions during the committee’s second public meeting on Sept. 22 in the village Courtroom broached a number of topics—including enforcement and prosecution—village resident James Abbate, [age?] an attendee of the meeting, told the Review those arenas may catch addicts only after it’s too late.
“Starting at a young age, you don’t realize anything about addiction,” Abbate said. “Most kids think they’re getting high and enjoying themselves…. To try to prevent that, you have to reach [out to] kids to let them know what they’re doing to themselves.”
And when it comes to topics dealing with addiction, Abbate may offer insight that others can’t. Throughout his life, Abbate has battled drug abuse, spending a long tumultuous period of his formative years in and out of state prison.
“I’m not ashamed to tell my story,” he said. “The person I am today can help other people.”
Abbate, now 16 years clean, said while court intervention, counseling and enforcement play an important role, nothing is more critical than addressing the problem before addiction takes root.
“When [kids] are at the stage where addiction is already getting them in trouble, that’s like the third stage,” he said. “We want to get them at the first [stage], and give them [the] knowledge of what they’re actually doing to themselves.”
Abbate, who has studied both addiction and prevention, said reaching kids sooner rather than later could have huge benefits later on when they’re confronted with the option of doing drugs.
“You have to try to connect with kids,” he said. “They can relate to you when you relate to them.”
Village Mayor Norman Rosenblum, a Republican, who organized the coalition of government, school and community members, seconded Abbate’s push for prevention.
“You want to try to get kids in sixth to eighth grade,” the mayor said. “You want to, over time, change the psyche of kids through education and exposure.”
Rosenblum said that in an effort to expand preventative programs, he is already seeking additional funding for schools that are looking to broaden their programs to even more students.
Likewise, with the schools’ permission, Abbate said he would speak to students about addiction and its perils, free of charge.
Talks of immediate intervention in Mamaroneck’s community have boiled to the surface over the past month following a rash of five overdoses—two of which were fatal—which have accumulated in just under two months.
Now, by helping unite local and state government officials—state Sen. George Latimer and state Assemblyman Steve Otis, both Rye Democrats, attended the last meeting–in addition to schools and community members, Rosenblum hopes that greater conversation could lead to tangible change.
“If we can stop one or two kids from killing themselves, it’ll all be worth it,” he said.
