GLEN SPEY, NY — Dr. Carlos Holden described “a national epidemic,” as he narrated a slide presentation on the impacts of young people’s illicit use of illegal heroin, purchased on the street, and prescription drugs often found in the family medicine cabinet.

Holden appeared at the October 8 Lumberland town board meeting at the invitation of Supervisor Nadia Rajsz, who, responding to several past local incidents, has frequently expressed concerns about a growing youth drug-use problem.

Holden, who is the director of emergency room at Catskill Regional Medical Center, said he looked into the statistics after noting the growing number of younger people coming to the emergency room for drug-use-related treatment. “Sadly, many of them don’t make it to the hospital,” he said.

Quoting state and federal statistics, Holden said Sullivan County currently ranks third among 62 counties, behind only Bronx and Richmond (Staten Island) counties, in the rate of drug-related hospital admissions.

He said the problem is related to the greater availability of heroin on the street and the increased number of frequently over-prescribed, opiate-based pain killer prescriptions provided to post-surgery patients by physicians. Drug abuse has become “the most common cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 45.”

More information and guidance about the problem is available locally through organizations including the Sullivan County Rural Health Network (www.scrhn.org), Nar-Anon Family Groups, (www.nar-anon.org), or by phone at 800/662-HELP, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.