The district attorney called it “the problem of our time,” and the drug enforcement special agent said it is “the greatest national security threat we’ve ever faced.” They were speaking at a special Fentanyl Summit and were joined by families of drug poisoning victims to plead with legislators to take action.
Organized by Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney, the summit put a human face on the carnage wreaked by the fentanyl coming over the open southern border in a massive drug trade operated by Mexican cartels. An American dies every five seconds from the drugs, and law enforcement has intercepted enough of them to kill every American many times over.
Plenty gets through and the price goes up for an opioid dose from seven cents in Mexico to anywhere from $30-$60 on the streets, according to Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Frank Tarentino. “Cartels are operating in every major city in the United States as part of a transnational criminal organization,” he reported. The raw materials for fentanyl and other deadly drugs originate from China and are mixed in labs in Mexico, Tarentino noted, adding that seven out of 10 illegal pills tested by the DEA contain lethal amounts of fentanyl. “Every day, we find more on Long Island. It's an existential threat we’re faced with from China.”
A dose of the synthetic opioid equal to just five grains of salt can kill an adult, the special agent pointed out. A sugar packet can contain enough to poison 500. “It's killing Americans at record and catastrophic rates,” Tarentino said. Tons of it pour over the border, making it the leading cause of death for young people.
One of the many victims was Chelsey Murray, a 31-year-old Lake Grove resident killed by fentanyl. Her parents, Gene and Susan Murray, took to the podium to describe the overdose deaths of both Chelsey and her brother, Michael, and expressed hope that a bill named for her in Albany is approved to help fight the drug epidemic.
“Please, let’s do something so that no other family will have to go through this,” Gene Murray pleaded to the crowd, many of whom had also lost loved ones. “We need to get the dealers off the street,” Mrs. Murray said. “Helping get Chelsey’s law passed is how we survive.”
Tierney has aggressively lobbied for the law, which would allow prosecutors to charge fentanyl dealers with manslaughter if the buyer dies and the dealer had reason to know that the substance they sold would likely cause death. Currently, a dealer can only be charged for the drug sale itself.
Chelsey’s family shared the tragic story of her death. She was fighting an addiction and had been clean for months. Texts with her dealer show that she was concerned about fentanyl, but he assured her that his drugs were okay. Her mother found her unresponsive in the family’s bathroom, just as she had found her son 10 years earlier. Chelsey was revived, and during the 11 days she fought for life in the hospital, the dealer was arrested. He had prior drug convictions and was sentenced to 10 years for selling the drugs that killed her.
“The police were terrific,” Mr. Murray said. “We were able to get justice, some closure. He only received 10 years and will probably be out in seven or eight. Without our children, we spend our holidays at the cemetery; we are living a life sentence, but he will be free.”
Chelsey’s dealer was convicted due to the efforts of a special team in the district attorney’s Narcotics Bureau that responds to every overdose and looks to bust those responsible (see related story in the South Shore Press).
Another mother who lost a child to fentanyl is Carole Trottere of Old Field. She attended the summit with many other moms and dads, a dedicated group looking to get the laws changed in the memory of their children. “We need to keep raising our voices until something gets done about this epidemic,” Trotter said. “Too many people are dying; it’s such a tragedy.”
The Progressive Democrats who control the legislative process in Albany have turned a blind eye to Chelsey’s Law and other bills drafted by Republicans to get a handle on the drug scourge. One is to classify xylazine, a large animal sedative sold on the street as Tranq, as a controlled substance. It is used as a cutting agent for heroin and other drugs and was found in the lethal dose that killed Chelsey. It’s turning up in almost every illegal drug sold on Long Island, officials reported.
Another bill that is not seeing the light of day in Albany would allow judges to set bail for dealers arrested for selling under eight ounces of fentanyl, especially for drugs that lead to a death. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined with his Democrat colleagues to eliminate bail for most criminal offenses in 2019, kicking off a crime wave that has terrorized communities ever since.
Long Island officials have also called for allowing the state’s Crime Victim Assistance Fund to provide relief to families that have lost members to an overdose. “Last year, 107,500 New Yorkers died from drug overdoses,” with the number still rising,” Tierney said. “It is the problem of our time.”
“It is beyond disbelief that Governor Hochul and the Democrats in the legislature refuse to pass common-sense laws to fight the drug epidemic,” said Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano, a Republican from Medford who sponsored the Tranq bill. “And President Biden and the Democrats in Washington refusing to control the border as these drugs keep pouring in to kill our kids is a national disgrace.”