Organizations hold Narcan training in response to overdoses in the East End

The East End is seeing more community outreach in response to the six fatal overdoses that happened over the past week in the North Fork and Shelter Island.

News 12 Staff

Aug 15, 2021, 4:52 PM

Updated 1,229 days ago

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The East End is seeing more community outreach in response to the six fatal overdoses that happened over the past week in the North Fork and Shelter Island.
The group Community Action for Social Justice conducted Narcan training in Greenport this weekend.
They also gave out overdose rescue kits in hopes of making the community more aware of the recent overdose deaths. They gave out more than 90 kits on Saturday alone.
“We fly into action as soon as possible to prevent further loss, and that's what Narcan does,” says Tina Wolf, of Community Action for Social Justice.
Southold police say they've had eight overdoses in just one week. Six of them died, all between the ages of 25 and 35.
Police believe these overdoses are related to cocaine laced with fentanyl that's been distributed on the North Fork and Shelter Island.
Southold is working with Suffolk County Police and the district attorney's office to find the source of where the drug is coming from.
Jeffrey Reynold, of the Family and Children's Association, runs two outpatient treatment and recovery centers. He says Long Island has been hit hard by overdoses and the pandemic hasn't helped.
"This latest round of overdoses is proof,” Reynold says.
Whiskey Wind Tavern manager Joe Kuhlmann says he is banding together with other business owners to show their support. He says the victims of these overdoses are known within the restaurant community on the North Fork and it’s been hitting everyone hard.
“No one expected this, they don't know that it's in there, and these are just people trying to get through their lives, working people – these aren't deadbeats, they're good people that are dying,” Kuhlmann says.
There will be another Narcan training event Monday afternoon at the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Free Library starting at 3 p.m.