NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — New York Sen. Chuck Schumer was on Long Island Thursday to announce more federal money is being sent to fight the drug problem that has led to an increase in overdoses.
According to the Democrat, $1.6 million in funding will be sent to Nassau and Suffolk counties for a variety of services and programs, including a new recovery center on the east end of Long Island. The money is being allocated from COVID relief legislation.
Ryan Kaiser, who works at the THRIVE Recovery and Outreach Center on Long Island, was with Schumer when the announcement was made and said these types of programs helped him overcome addiction.
“The support that I got through treatment is one of the reasons I'm standing here today. It's one of the reasons I'm alive, talking with you,” he told reporters.
Kaiser said addiction has become a huge issue on Long Island – especially during the pandemic – and he was like many others who were desperate to get their hands on any type of drug available.
“I experienced several trips to emergency rooms for withdrawal symptoms and needed to be supported through mild seizures,” said Kaiser. “Whatever substance I could get my hands on, whatever I can get access to, I was going to use to escape myself.”
Schumer said the money being sent to Long Island will go to help people like Kaiser. He noted that the money was especially needed after six people recently died in Suffolk County from overdoses on cocaine which had been mixed with fentanyl.
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Kaiser is hopeful that people who are struggling will be able to access the new support networks soon.
“There is life beyond that despair, there's life beyond that pain, that isolation, the loneliness,” he said to those struggling. “The support that we get through treatment, through prevention, through the needed dollars that are so fundamental to provide access to care for our residents here Long Island – it's vital.”