County health dept. pursues new rapid-result tests

By JEANETTE WOLFBERG

HUDSON–Recent developments in Columbia County’s confronting substance abuse — both vaping and opioid — include funds from a lawsuit against Juul, two County proclamations, and abuse-discouraging education.

The county Board of Supervisors authorized the Health Department to accept $285,000 via the New York State Attorney General’s Office from a lawsuit against Juul Labs Inc., at its August 14 meeting. In November 2019, New York and other states sued Juul for contributing to the “youth vaping epidemic,” by “deceptive and misleading marketing” of its e-cigarettes. This included “targeting minors” and misinformation about nicotine content. In April 2023, the Attorney General announced that Juul has agreed to pay New York State $112.7 million. Columbia County’s cut is $285,000, which will come in eight equal installments ($35.6 thousand each), the first two in 2024. Questar III BOCES will also receive Juul settlement money.

The Health Department Director Victoria McGahan hopes to collaborate with Greene County and Questar in using the funds. Allowable uses include: trying to prevent people from starting vaping; helping them to quit vaping; supporting community and school based anti-vaping programs; enforcing vaping regulations; research; and surveillance.

The Juul settlement is separate from and in addition to the opioid settlements, which the county is also getting money from. Human Services Director Dan Almasi said in November last year that the county has already gotten $500,000 and by 2038 it should receive a total of $2.2 million. In addition, the county is getting $283,000 in Opioid Abatement funds from the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS).

At the August 14 meeting, Board Chairman Supervisor Matt Murell (Stockport) issued two addiction related proclamations. One, read by Supervisor Ron Knott (Stuyvesant), recognized August 31 as National Overdose Awareness Day. “The loss of precious lives due to overdose continues to be a significant public health crisis,” the proclamation states.

The other, read by Supervisor Brenda Adams (Canaan), designated September as National Recovery Month in Columbia County. It states that “substance use disorder, commonly [called] addiction, is a treatable mental health disorder,” and “millions of Americans demonstrate that recovery from [it] is both possible and attainable.”

Both proclamations note that 64 Columbia County residents died of overdoses between 2019 and 2023; that substance use disorders effect all races, religions, and economic statuses; and that suffering from that disorder should not stigmatize people.

Preventing substance abuse before it starts is one wish that kept coming up in community hearings on the opioid crisis last year. And Prevention Education is a priority of the Columbia Greene Addiction Coalition (GCAC), which works to help people and communities impacted by substance abuse.

“By expanding prevention opportunities for youth, raising awareness among all sectors, and increasing access to harm reduction supplies CGAC aims to reduce overdose deaths in Columbia and Greene counties,” CGAC’s Executive Director Hannah Calhoun stated on September 3.

She continued that “prevention education can begin as early as 5 years old and the conversation should continue through the child’s life. A ton of research supports parents setting clear expectations around substance use and having real conversations with their children and young adults. The research shows evidence that these conversations do work, in addition to supporting youth to engage in health activities and providing supervision.

“One goal of CGAC is to increase awareness for youth either in schools or outside of school, through presentations, conversation, and building skills around safety. CGAC has provided presentations to some youth in health classes that cover topics such as stigma, harm reduction and local resources for youth. Many Columbia County school districts have also contracted with Twin Counties Recovery Services, which offers prevention education and prevention counseling.” (Calls to Twin Counties and school districts for more details were not returned.)

“However,” Ms. Calhoun continued, “part of growing up is experimentation, and regardless of how much support a young person has, they still might experiment and they should know how to make safe choices. There are great advantages to delaying experimentation until the brain is fully developed, which happens at ages 25-27 and the longer one can delay starting the use of a substance, the less the chance of addiction. There are other factors that increase the likeliness of addiction such as family history and trauma.

“The good news is that illicit drug use in youth in general has declined among middle and high school students, based on a national survey the CDC administers, known as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The bad news is that among persons aged 14–18 years, overdose deaths increased 94% from 2019 to 2020 and 20% from 2020 to 2021. Ninety percent of overdose deaths involved opioids, 35% had documented opioid use history, 40.9% had evidence of mental health conditions or treatment. Two thirds of those who had overdosed had one or more potential bystander present, but most did not provide an overdose response such as administering narcan. Therefore, it is crucial that youth and parents recognize the signs of an overdose and have access narcan in an emergency, preferably in their medicine cabinets.

“There is some controversy around harm reduction, but it is important to remember that harm reduction reduces harm when engaging in activities that could cause harm. Examples we use when talking to young people are using sunscreen and wearing a seatbelt or helmet. When it comes to alcohol consumption, having a designated driver, drinking water, not mixing with prescribed medications reduce the risk of harm. For illicit substances such as cocaine, which has caused a large volume of overdose death in Columbia County (57% involved cocaine/Methamphetamines) harm reduction means not using substances alone, using smaller amounts when resuming after an absence and testing drugs from unknown sources. These are all incredibly powerful tools for preventing an overdose and possible death.

“The CGAC website lists local, state and national resources for overdose prevention that can be accessed free and anonymously if desired. We do not promote drug use, but we do support health and safety and want people to be informed and stay alive. We’ve lost too many friends, family, and neighbors to count. It is also important to remember that access to harm reduction supplies is access to health care.”