No Murder Charge in NYS for Dealing Deathup hope – I’m saying be very careful and watch carefully because it can just grab anybody. It’s a disease, not a moral issue.”

Chief Veitch said that in partic-ular, heroin addiction is exception-ally difficult to handle for both the user and their loved ones. “Heroin is an issue in Saratoga Springs as it is everywhere,” said Veitch, “and law enforcement is only one part of the solution. Families, friends and ser-vice agencies all have a part to play in reducing the adverse effects that her-oin has on the individual, their loved ones and the community.”

Schreiber said for many users treatment would be better than jail. “We have a drug treatment court in this county,” he said, “and my office is pretty progressive – we just hired

a social worker.” With her help, the court can better assess the best course of action not only for rehabilitation, but also for preventing situations like Katie’s and Laree’s.

Victims’ families do want bet-ter rehabilitation, but they also want dealers to face accountability – not just for selling drugs, but also for the resulting deaths. As far as these fami-lies are concerned, dealers in New York State are getting away with mur-der. Literally. That’s why so many are pushing for Laree’s Law.

Part of the problem, Schreiber said, is that it can be difficult to prove the defendant was selling, and not just in possession as another user. And Scheidt wants to be sure the Good Samaritan Law stays in effect.

“I’d much rather have Katie back alive than Matt Charo in jail for life,” said Scheidt. That said, Katie’s father,

Week of April 15 – April 21, 2016 NEWS 13

Saratoga Drug Arrests

Arrests in the City of Saratoga Springs for Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance have doubled

from 52 in 2010-11 to 106 in 2015-16. Source: Saratoga Springs Police Department.

Total drug arrests in Saratoga County have increased 33 percent from 299 in 2011 to 443 in 2015.

Source: DCJS, www.CriminalJustice.ny.gov.

Statewide Opioid Trends

• Heroin-related deaths increased 163 percent between 2009 and 2013.

• Naloxone emergency administration increased by 57 percent in one year, 2014 over 2013.

• Opioid-related emergency department visits increased 73 percent between 2010 and 2014.

• Half of heroin-related overdose deaths are under age 35.

• Heroin-related overdose deaths of people under age 35 increased by 268 percent in 2013 since 2009.

“Most overdoses are not instantaneous, and most are witnessed by others.

Therefore, many overdose fatalities are preventable, especially if witnesses have had appropriate training.”

Source: Opioid Poisoning, Overdose and Prevention 2015 Report to the Governor and NYS Legislature by the New York State Department of

Health and AIDS Institute.

Continued from page 12. as a former state police officer, knows well that some dealers are not reha-bilitatable, and belong under lock and key for a long time.

“It’s not just the money for them,” said Scheidt. “Some of this is power as well. They find this 21-year-old girl and now they own her. Drug addiction is ter-rible enough. Homicide is terrible enough. But if you’re 21 years old and addicted, your dealers own you. They offer it free because they know you’ll be addicted, that you’ll go to the ends of the earth for it. They’ve cornered the mar-ket. What New York State needs is a clean law without a lot of loop-holes, so these scumbags who prey on them, these pushers, don’t kill any more addicts. Katie’s dead. She’s not coming back. We’re not doing this for us, it’s for others.”

Cascone believes Katie would have wanted her family to help people understand the heroin cri-sis. “Before she died, she had been off the heroin for quite some time,” said Katie’s mother. “And we were seeing the Katie we all knew. She was clear headed and had goals. One of them was to speak out against heroin, and I feel her fam-ily is doing that for her. I think that’s what she really wants us to do. I hope the people who love her never forget her.”

Scheidt remembers exactly having such a conversation with his daughter before she died. “Like Katie said to me on the 26th of September,” he said, “people have to know.”

For more information about Laree’s Law, call your New York State senator 518-455-3216 or assembly member 518-455-4218. For more about Katie and her life, visit her obitu-ary at http://www.burkefuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1428288.