Long Island high school will house drug treatment center for students

By Staff Writer

A school district in Long Island will soon become the first in New York to open a drug rehab clinic within the confines of the education facility.

According to news affiliate CBS 2, a recent string of teen heroin overdoses in Long Island has prompted a high school to open a treatment center, which will be run by a community outreach program. An official with the nonprofit group said that the new location will give troubled teens easier access to services.

Dr Jeffrey Reynolds, who is the executive director of Long Island's council on drug dependence, said that there has been a significant increase in heroin use among kids. He told the news source that about 350 kids die per year in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Services in the school's rehab center will be anonymous, and only kids who live within the district will receive counseling and treatment.

Approximately 3.8 million Americans aged 12 or older reported trying heroin at least once during their lifetimes, according to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Among students who were surveyed as part of the Monitoring the Future study, about 1.4 percent of eighth graders said that they had tried heroin.