1.jpg

Nick, Kristina, Claire and John Porcello, stand in their Charleston home with childhood friend, Rob Stroh, and a framed photo of Joey Porcello, who died in 2013 from a heroin overdose. Kathleen Masinski was only 33 when she died on October 2014, after using heroin and Xanax in the bedroom of her Great Kills home. And Johnathan Charles Crupi, 21, also of Great Kills, overdosed in July 2012. (Staten Island Advance)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An average of nearly two people are arrested each day with heroin on Staten Island, a sign for law enforcement officials of the drug's frightening and often fatal pervasiveness, according to data obtained by the Advance.

An internal NYPD report revealed that arrests where heroin was involved rose about 30 percent, to more than 650 in 2015, up from roughly 500 the previous year.

Prescription pill-related arrests, meanwhile, have steadily declined over the past two years, following a period of aggressive growth that reached its peak in 2013, when police made about 600 arrests involving painkillers.

But over the past five years, the combined total of arrests involving either pills or heroin has spiked tenfold, from roughly 100 to more than 1,000, the data shows.

NEW LAW IMPACTS PILL MARKET

Police made less arrests involving pills partially because the supply began to dry up after laws passed in 2013 created a statewide database program that allows physicians and pharmacies to track over-prescribing and doctor-shopping, once a common practice where addicts would see multiple physicians a month to get 30-day supplies of the same or similar drugs.

With blackmarket painkillers now harder to find, many opiate addicts turned to heroin, a cheaper and more widely-available alternative to pills.

Powerful batches of high-quality heroin flooded the borough's streets, claiming more lives on the Island -- 42 in 2014 -- than anywhere else in the city.

As heroin exploded, NYPD officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents began cracking down, seizing larger quantities around the city than ever before.

One-fifth of Staten Island's narcotics arrests were linked to heroin in 2015, the highest rate in all five boroughs, according to the NYPD.

At the same time, the DEA's New York division confiscated about 1,951 pounds of heroin, a roughly 70-percent increase from the previous year. In 2009, the DEA seized just 189 pounds of heroin.

Police have had success taking down some big drug rings on the Island, including 14 suspects indicted as part of the 15-month "Operation Lost Boys" probe, but it hasn't stemmed the tide of heroin from reaching the streets.

A PHONE CALL AWAY

One recovering opiate addict, Brittany Salinari, 24, had said that buying heroin on the Island is as simple as ordering a pizza -- "I didn't have to leave my house to ever get heroin -- people would come here and sell it to me," she said.

When police do manage to arrest one dealer, another is usually not far behind to take their place, creating a burden on law enforcement.

"We're in the middle of a crisis ... it's not the kind of problem you can fix with arrests," said Chief Edward Delatorre, Commanding Officer of Staten Island.

The larger issue, he noted, has to do with the families of addicts not tackling the issue head-on.

"Bigger than that is the lack of willingness of parents to confront the problem and try to do something about it before it's too late," Delatorre said.

While the stigma of addiction still persists, many Islanders have bravely pushed back by sharing their stories of recovery at public forums and in numerous Advance stories on the topic.

Still, staying sober and out of trouble poses a constant challenge for any addict.

James Brenker, 22, who has struggled with opioid addiction for years, met with Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, first lady Chirlane McCray, in December at his family's New Springville home, talking openly with both them and Borough President James Oddo about his newfound sobriety.

Sadly, Brenker was arrested about a month later on misdemeanor drug charges.

"Recovering from the disease of substance dependency is hard work and a complex process of life changes. James attested to that when he generously shared his story in the effort to lead others toward life-saving resources," McCray had told the Advance after learning of Brenker's arrest.

Officials have launched several outreach initiatives with the hope to make a dent in the Island's drug epidemic.

The Ad Hoc Mayor's Heroin and Prescription Opioid Public Awareness Task Force said more providers will be trained and authorized to prescribe buprenorphine, a medication that treats opioid use, and pharmacies across the city will offer naloxone, which can reverse the effects of opioid overdose, without a prescription.

NYPD officers on the Island have also saved dozens of lives using naloxone -- 18 in 2015, and 21 in the previous year.

SOME SIGNS OF PROGRESS

On the Island, an anti-drug task force consisting of the borough president, Chief Delatorre and several local counseling service providers and community leaders has worked to raise awareness of the issue.

Oddo's "Too Good for Drugs" pilot program, which will expand to 47 Island schools thanks to $70,000 from the mayor, brings a Department of Education approved curriculum that puts an NYPD officer in fifth-grade classrooms to help teach students about the dangers of drugs.

"You've got to get to the children and convince them that this is not a good way of life," Delatorre said.

"You've got to get to the dealers...they certainly need to go to prison; And we have to do the best we can to help the people who are already sick," he added.

Staten Island District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, who took office this year, has also vowed to address the troubling drug epidemic.

"It's unfortunate to say, but virtually no one who lives here has been left untouched by this crisis," said a spokesman for McMahon.

"With that said, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon is committed to putting his prosecutors on the front lines of this fight, joining with the brave men and women of the NYPD and working together to put the dealers behind bars."

(Editors note: The NYPD report referred to in this article includes any arrest where heroin or pills are also found. It was commissioned by Staten Island police officials, and is only an estimate of arrests. The actual number might be slightly higher or lower.)