SERINO JOINS CALL TO ACTION TO END HEROIN EPIDEMIC IN NY

ALBANY, NY—Senator Sue Serino (R, C, I—Hyde Park) today joined advocates and members of the Senate’s Joint Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction, as well as members of the Assembly Minority Task Force on Heroin Addiction & Community Response at a press conference in Albany urging the Assembly Majority and Governor Andrew Cuomo to take much needed action to pass legislation aimed at curbing the heroin epidemic that has devastated far too many New York communities.

"When it comes to combating the scourge of heroin that has devastated our local community, we need to make sure party politics doesn’t get in the way of addressing this crisis,” said Senator Sue Serino, a member of the Senate’s Task Force. “When it comes to saving lives, we need to come together, stay above politics, and pass legislation that will provide real solutions to those families and individuals struggling with addiction.”

Earlier this month, Serino joined the Task Force in releasing a report from the Senate Task Force which identified four key ways to curb the growth of the heroin and opioid crisis—prevention, treatment, recovery, and enforcement.

On the same day, the Senate passed a series of bills that would empower those in recovery by providing proper resources such as safe environments, stable employment, and opportunities to participate in diversion programs that avoid incarceration in order to facilitate successful recoveries from addiction (S6322A, S2346, S7748A), as well as help prevent the spread of the drug by criminalizing its transportation within New York (S608).

“I urge my colleagues in the Assembly, as well as Governor Cuomo, to recognize the seriousness of this epidemic and take action on the legislation we have already passed in the Senate,” Serino continued. “We do not have a moment to spare—nobody wins when people are dying.”

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