Opioid Epidemic

Despite issues with the federal response to COVID, it was much faster than other medical emergencies.

Although the trend is heading in the right direction, John Barry, Executive Director of the Southern Tier AIDS Program, said the state's ballooning budget has impacted some harm reduction programs and resulted in new infections.

Battisti spoke as part of WSKG's interview series with all three candidates.

Over the last three months, a report from District Attorney Steve Cornwell finds there were nine overdose deaths in Broome County.

Donovan shared his own past struggle with addiction in his training.

"When we have residents coming back from treatment and ending up in the same housing they left we’re not assisting them in staying in recovery," said Rebecca Kaufman, Director of the Broome County Department of Health.

Shannon Monnat, professor of public health at Syracuse University, says the national emergency is an example of how current policies don't help.

A health network in Pennsylvania's Tioga County hopes to reduce the abuse of unused medications by making them harder to find. Nationally, young people who abuse prescription opioids usually get them from friends and relatives.

"It’s like we’ve learned nothing from the failures of our drug policies over the past 40 years... If we were to invest similar money into revitalizing social infrastructure and economic infrastructure and our educational system we would see long term benefits," said Shannon Monnat, sociology professor at Syracuse University, who specializes in public health.

About two years ago, meth started coming into the area in bulk shipments. Tioga, Chemung and Broome counties are now main destinations for meth coming from Mexico.