O'Mara, Senate Task Force on Heroin holding hearing in Binghamton today ~ Watch live here beginning at 4 P.M. ~ (UPDATED, April 14: Read more and watch a replay of yesterday's hearing)

Binghamton, N.Y., April 13—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats), a member of the Joint Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction, is joining fellow Southern Tier Senator Fred Akshar (R,C,I-Binghamton) and other task force members today for a forum in Binghamton on the burgeoning heroin crisis impacting communities throughout New York State.

Akshar is sponsoring today’s hearing in Binghamton.  O’Mara sponsored a similar forum in Penn Yan (Yates County) in late February, and attended a task force hearing on Long Island late last week.  He also brought the task force to Elmira in 2014.  The bipartisan Senate task force was created in 2014 at a time when local police departments and addiction centers, including many across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, were pointing to the alarming rise in the availability and use of heroin. 

“It’s important to keep hearing directly from the local front lines in fighting this statewide heroin crisis.  This local input, which has been reflected in actions we’ve taken over the past several years as well as in this year’s state budget, will help us target the necessary responses and keep our strategies as up to date and effective as possible.  Heroin is devastating lives in the Binghamton area and on Long Island as much as it is in Penn Yan, Hornell, Ithaca, Elmira and many other places throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions.  I’m grateful for these opportunities to continue listening to firsthand experiences and suggestions for how best to respond and help all of our communities move forward,” said O’Mara.  “The local input we're receiving will help our task force build on and strengthen the state-local partnership that's going to be critical to putting in place the most up to date and effective combination of law enforcement, awareness and education, and treatment and prevention."

Today’s forum starts at 4:00 p.m. at the Chenango Valley High School Auditorium (221 Chenango Bridge Road).  The senators are hearing testimony from regional law enforcement officers, first responders and district attorneys, drug addiction counselors and treatment providers, recovering addicts and family members, social services and health professionals, educators and other experts about the range of complex challenges posed by heroin including addiction prevention and treatment options, drug-related crimes, and other community and public health and safety impacts.

A live webstream of the hearing can be viewed at https://www.nysenate.gov/events.

O’Mara has strongly praised the inclusion in the recently enacted 2016-17 state budget of $166 million in funding to continue enhancing and expanding the state’s heroin and opioid addiction prevention, treatment, recovery, and education services.  He said the budget mirrors the actions the Senate first proposed in its one-house budget resolution in early March.  The budget also includes $1 million for the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to maximize the availability of drug collection programs in communities statewide, including to local law enforcement agencies.  The program will include the purchase and distribution of tamper-proof drug collection boxes and other federally approved drug collection programs to help protect the environment from harmful substances and reduce the risk of addiction through the safe and responsible disposal of opioid pharmaceutical drugs.

[UPDATE, April 14, 2016: Read more and watch a replay of yesterday's hearing HERE]