NEW MILFORD, Conn. (AP) - A week before he died, Brian Cody Waldron, smiled as his daughter, Aubree, zoomed down the big green slide at his parent’s house.

It’s a video his mother, Tracey Morrissey, plays on repeat since her son’s fatal overdose on Aug. 10. He was 20.

“He wouldn’t want to leave this behind,” she said.

Waldron was doing well at a new job. He was set to be married with a second daughter due in September. He had just completed a treatment program in New Jersey that he and his fiance, Makayla Showalter, drove hours at a moment’s notice to make the check in. He worried he would relapse and asked to extend the program, which he was denied because his insurance wouldn’t cover it.

Showalter shared a similar concern and told hospital employees on Aug. 9 that she worried he would overdose. But under state law, the hospital had to release him because the heroin wasn’t in his system, just like the police department had to do shortly after.

His body was found in a trap house three hours later.

“There was such good in him, but unfortunately he struggled, and those brief moments of struggle caught up with him,” said Tony Morrissey, Waldron’s stepfather. “He was a great kid.”

Showalter and the Morrisseys are now fighting to make changes and implement programs to combat the overdose epidemic plaguing not only New Milford, but the entire country.

“I have a battle plan,” Tony Morrissey said. “Heroin picked a fight with the wrong family.”

For the past two years, nearly 1,000 people have died in Connecticut annually because of an opioid overdose. This is more than three times higher than it was in 2012, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

There were 511 opioid overdose deaths in Connecticut between January and June this year with 1,022 projected by the end of 2019, according to data released Friday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

These staggering figures don’t even mention those who were saved.

As of last week, New Milford Police reported that they’ve responded to 29 overdose calls this year. Narcan was used on 16 of these calls and there were four overdose deaths, including Waldron‘s.

“The heroin issue in New Milford is very concerning to me because I believe that even one death from an overdose is one too many,” Police Chief Spencer Cerruto said. “I take this personal, I feel for these people and their families.”

On average, 130 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 70,200 drug overdose deaths nationally in 2017, 68 percent of which involved an opioid. Most of those people are between the ages of 25 and 54.

A judge ordered Johnson and Johnson to pay Oklahoma $572 million last week for its role in the opioid crisis.

New Milford had seven drug-related deaths in 2018, fewer than Danbury’s 20 and far less than the 58 reported in New Haven and the 60 reported in Bridgeport. These numbers include all drug related deaths though, not just those connected to opioids. It is also skewed because it includes deaths that happened at hospitals, not necessarily where the overdose actually occurred.

“Fentanyl has brought this epidemic to a whole new level,” Tony Morrissey said.

Of Connecticut’s 948 fatal opioid overdoses in 2018, 760 involved Fentanyl, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The rise has prompted an action plan from the CDC, as well as calls for more resources at the national level, which Sen. Richard Blumenthal reiterated on Friday. He’s introduced the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency Act, which would provide federal funding to state and local governments to tackle the epidemic.

Dozens of activists also participated in vigils on Saturday to mark International Overdose Awareness day.

The first thing the Morrisseys hope to accomplish is shutting down the trap houses, or places where people come to buy and do drugs, in New Milford.

“There should be no safe harbor for these evil acts,” Tony Morrissey said.

They sat down with Mayor Pete Bass and state Rep. Bill Buckbee, R-New Milford, this week to see what can be done throughout the various levels of government to stop and treat the epidemic.

One idea is “Brian Cody’s Law” which will crack down on these trap houses. Buckbee said he can start working on the bill with his legislative team as soon as the Morrisseys share their goals for the bill. He can then gather bipartisan support and try to push it through the short session when the General Assembly returns in February.

New Milford is already starting to crack down on this. A recent drug-related arrest was just announced Wednesday.

“I am committed to going after the drug dealers and I want to send out a strong message that if you are selling drugs in New Milford we are coming to get you,” Cerruto said. “The NMPD is working with state and federal law enforcement and we need help from the community. We are all in this together and this cannot be a one-pronged approach.”

Cerruto said the department is increasing its efforts to proactively investigate drugs coming into town. He is also adding a position and new program to help, which will be announced in the coming days.

Bass said they are focusing on cutting off the drug supply.

“We’re going to be working on this with no forgiveness,” he said.

The Morrisseys also hope for changes at the treatment levels. They questioned the admission policies in place that require someone to have dirty urine to enter, even if the person has a history and at risk of relapse.

The amount of beds available also make it tricky, requiring potential patients to call every day to see if a spot has opened up and then to drop everything to get there by a certain time that day. Showalter and Waldron, drove two hours when they heard there was a spot in New Jersey, arriving five minutes late and nearly being turned away.

Tony Morrissey said they were so optimistic when Waldron got into that program. But even Waldron didn’t think the few weeks there were enough and asked for more time. They denied him and sent him home because of insurance, even though his letters in treatment say his hometown’s his trigger.

On Aug. 10, the Morrissey’s arrived home from seeing their son’s body in a body bag to a letter from their insurance company denying coverage for a longer treatment and a $25,000 bill for the 22-day treatment program he had just completed. Tony Morrissey has his work’s top insurance.

“Even that wasn’t good enough for (these programs),” he said, adding something needs to change either at the state or local level to require these programs be included.

He said hospitals need to also treat overdoses as suicide watches and hold them for a number of hours because often times those patients look for another fix once they’re back on the streets.

There also needs to be liaisons from drug treatment programs or other services that will go to the hospital and help those treated for overdoses then so that they can be put into direct care. Tony Morrissey proposed funding the Angel program, an initiative run by the New Milford Coalition for Awareness and New Beginnings, which could help close this service gap.

Bass said they are looking to add a position that will help find beds and services for overdose victims when they’re brought to the hospital. He also plans to do more educational outreach with the students in town through the youth agency.

The opioid epidemic has been dubbed an equal opportunity killer - affecting all races and varying incomes in both rural and suburban towns, as well as cities.

“I like to think we’re a good family and this happened to us,” Tony Morrissey said. “It’s not parents who don’t care about their kids.”

Pictures fill the Morrisseys’ home of Waldron smiling and joking with his family and friends. His parents are also quick to pull memories that make them laugh, including how Waldron used to wear his Mickey Mouse slippers everywhere, even out in the snow, and to high school one day on a dare.

Waldron was a jokester loved by his peers. About 500 people came out to his funeral about two weeks ago. His parents describe him as being loyal to a fault, even to his own detriment when he fell in with a questionable crowd around eighth or ninth grade.

“He’d be homeless with them because he didn’t want to leave his friends on the street,” Tracey Morrissey said. “He lived in a van with one of his friends - who has also since passed away.”

The Morrisseys showered him with love and Tony Morrissey even tried the tough love tact, pulling from his Army background. They’ve been helping troubled youth for years, including serving as foster parents and adopting three of those children who were in their care.

The Morrisseys hope more families will speak up because it’s happening everywhere. They said people keep quiet because they don’t want to admit its happening to them.

“We want to raise awareness so other parents know you’re not alone,” Tracey Morrisey said.

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