NORWICH – Chenango County Court Judge Frank B. Revoir Jr. spent this past Tuesday morning at the Otselic Valley Central School, speaking on the heroin epidemic happening in Chenango County.
This past Tuesday Nov. 3, 2015 was Election Day in New York State, which meant all courts were closed for the day.
Town of Plymouth Justice Paul O’Connor had previously known about an assembly taking place at the Otselic Valley Central School and asked Revoir if he would be interested in speaking.
The school gave Revoir the option to speak on whatever topic he wished to address.
Due to the heroin epidemic that is sweeping across the country as well as Chenango County specifically, Revoir thought it was appropriate to speak on this matter.
Chenango County Court Attorney Barry Fitzgerald, Chenango County Court Officer John Blangiardo, as well as myself, Cameron Turner Evening Sun court reporter, were all invited to accompany Revoir to this assembly.
The assembly began around 7:50 a.m. once the students grades 7 through 12 were fully assembled in the auditorium of the school.
Revoir began talking by giving some introductions of himself, as well as each of us that he brought along for the event, Revoir opened up asking, “What do you think is one of the number one problems that communities are facing today, anybody have an idea?”
One student way in the back immediately raised their hand, proclaiming, “Drugs.”
“Drugs, yeah I'd definitely say that was in the top two, if not number one,” said Revoir.
Another individual raised their hand saying, “What about DWIs?”
This seemed to lead the discussion towards each specific epidemic that communities have faced over time.
Revoir explained to the students how communities have seen the DWI epidemic, the crack epidemic, each of which have been battled and brought under some control.
Revoir introduced what he deemed the newest problem facing communities as the far worse epidemic of, heroin and opiate epidemic.
The students learned how doctors simply prescribe opiate pain killers legally such as hydrocodone or oxycodone, which when abused can cause addiction to spiral out and lead to heroin use.
“The intent may be that I am only going to use these until my pain goes away, but these drugs block your brain from creating its own chemicals to make you happy,” explained Revoir.
Once the doctors catch on to the abuse and cut the user off, once they cut you, you don’t even take pleasure in waking up and getting out of bed in the morning, they need a new source to feel happy, because when you were on the opiates you felt great, better than you’ve ever felt before,” continued Revoir.
Revoir went on to explain the prices of these prescription drugs on the street compared to heroin. Revoir alleged that opiate pills on the street would cost around $20 a pill while users would take multiple pills a day.
“They call it dope sickness, they feel sick without the opiates,” said Revoir.
This habit becomes costly overtime which leads addicts to look to heroin which allegedly runs around $5 a hit and causes ten times the high compared to the opiate pills.
“People are dying from heroin, in this country alone, everyday almost 50 people die in overdoses. It is unbelievable, and far greater than the DWI or crack-cocaine epidemic fatalities, I don’t intend to scare you but don’t ever try heroin even once, one time and you’re hooked,” said Revoir.
The students were told to ask their parents to throw away old prescriptions, and to speak up when they see habits of addiction.
Fitzgerald, the Court Attorney, even chimed in with a personal story he shared with a young man he knew who eventually committed suicide due to a drug addiction.
“Your generation has the ability to stop it, you name every crisis this country has faced and we have beat them all, because people step up. It is not the President and the congressman, although they play a part of it. It is right here, the grassroots level, all of the schools, high schools, middle schools, colleges, the small communities, it can be brought under control just like the other epidemics,” said Revoir.
Following the forum where Judge Revoir spoke on heroin, a short highlight film of the month recap, made by the students was shown.
A small teaser of a play performed by some of the students, called “The Lottery,” was also displayed, as a teaser to the upcoming musical this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Otselic Valley Schools.
At around 8:45 once the grade 7 through 12 grade students had returned to their classes, the assembly continued with all of us that Judge Revoir brought along speaking to the grades two through sixth, who were brought into the auditorium.
The plan was to rather than discuss heroin abuse to students of such a young age, to instead discuss being an individual and not just following the crowd.
However, once introductions had been done, the floor was open to questions, which many chose to ask about the role of Blangiardo as the Court Officer.
Once the assembly was over around 9:30 a.m.; the rest of the morning was spent touring the school and speaking to various classrooms.
The topics asked by various students in these classrooms that were visited, ranged from asking Officer Blangiardo about his bullet proof vest and gun, all the way to marijuana and drone laws.
The school boasts a very proactive approach to many areas, including student built dugouts for the baseball and softball fields, computer use over the original textbooks, and even no passing bells in between classrooms, as the students are expected to responsible enough to get to and from where they are going in a timely manner.
“Once a month we usually try to get a guest speaker and have an assembly like this, I think it really is important for our kids to hear this stuff, they’re very perceptive,” said Otselic Valley Schools Superintendent Daniel G. Henner.