Heroin's toll told in statistics — and faces of loss
Janice Kelly has seen the toll of narcotics addiction, and not just in her son's death.
Shawn Kelly died Feb. 25 of an accidental overdose of heroin. He was 26.
His mother says she knows of 11 other friends and acquaintances of her son who also have succumbed to addiction.
READ: Stress, transition led Justin Salomone to drug use
READ: Billy Totten regretted 'choice' to start injecting heroin
READ: Shawn Kelly loved the outdoors prior to overdose
READ: Christopher Roza helped others, couldn't help himself
READ: Painkillers led Erik Christiansen, former police detective, to heroin
"I wish I could have wrapped them all up and kept them (safe) in the closet," Kelly, a 56-year-old Wappinger town resident, said. "When you go to the cemetery, half of them are drug overdoses."
Sadly, Kelly is not overestimating the problem.
A report issued by the state health department in May brings into stark relief the severity of the issue locally.
The report found Dutchess County had the highest per-capita rate of opioid-related overdose fatalities in counties with 20 or more deaths from 2009-2013, the most recent year for which data are available.
Dutchess averaged 5.5 per 100,000 people. Suffolk was second at 4.8. Ulster averaged 2.7.
Editor's column: Heroin forum to address crisis, solutions
In 2013, an average of two New Yorkers a day died of heroin-related overdoses, the state health department report found.
In 2014, 2,028 New Yorkers — 5.6 per day — died of a drug overdose, according to a report from the state Heroin and Opioid Task Force.
Between 2005 and 2014, admissions to state-certified treatment programs in upstate New York increased 222 percent.
"This is not an inner-city problem," said Sgt. Vincent Stelmach, coordinator of the Dutchess County Drug Task Force. "This is an everywhere problem."
The numbers tell only part of the story.
Plan to participate in heroin forum
Gone are athletes and musicians. Students and employees. Even a New York City police detective.
Most were just starting out. Young people in their 20s.
From Red Hook. From Wappinger. From Dutchess and Ulster counties.
Theirs are the faces of loss.
And of unfulfilled potential.
John Ferro: 845-437-4816, jferro@poughkeepsiejournal.com, Twitter: @PoJoEnviro
Heroin a 'disease' to fight every day
Heroin crisis spurs need for more rehab services
Heroin's deadly path to Dutchess County
Faces of loss
Visit http://pojonews.co/nyheroin for the Journal's complete coverage of the drug epidemic, including video interviews and photos.
HEROIN FORUM
Poughkeepsie Journal Media is holding a free public forum, “Heroin: The scourge, the stories, the answers,” at the Family Partnership Center in Poughkeepsie. The event will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 14, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Family Partnership Center, 29 N. Hamilton St., Poughkeepsie. Health and law enforcement experts as well as family members and recovering addicts will take part in a “community conversation” to identify solutions and ways to move forward.