Learn About the Opioid Epidemic with These Four Events in Darien in October

Stevenson Discusses Opioid Painkiller Addiction at Breakfast with Legislators

Police Now Will Administer Life-Saving Naloxone for Heroin Overdoses

Police: Darien Driver Found with Heroin, Guns Confiscated (for Now)

Heroin in Darien: Part 2 with Panel of Recovery Experts, Cops, Doctors

Police Chief: Heroin Use is Up in Darien, What Parents Can Do

Police: Two Men Charged with Selling Heroin in Darien

Healthy Living

By David Gurliacci | September 29, 2017

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | December 8, 2015

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | November 15, 2015

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Community Organizations

By David Gurliacci | November 3, 2015

Parents & Kids

By David Gurliacci | October 22, 2015

Public Safety

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At the First Congregational Church this Sunday, Oct. 1, and over two weeks in October at Darien Library, there will be four events in Darien where you can learn more about the opioid epidemic. First Congregational Church of Darien
Sunday, Oct. 1, at 11:30 a.m.

A condensed version of an announcement from the church:

The First Congregational Church of Darien and Silver Hill Hospital are hosting a panel discussion to address the problem of drugs that plague our community. Although our focus will be on teens, all of us are affected by this crisis. Two professional panelists, who work in the greater Darien area, will talk about addiction from the scientific, prevention and treatment perspectives.

By Leslie Yager

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson discussed ways to combat opioid painkiller abuse at a recent breakfast for legislators and others sponsored by Stamford-based Communities 4 Action. The legislative breakfast at the UConn Stamford campus was attended by local police, social workers, psychologists, school counselors, substance abuse experts, and, of course legislators. While last year’s December meeting focused on Narcan, and Greenwich Police Chief Heavey was a featured speaker, Monday’s meeting featured frank discussion on Opioid addiction and trends in both illicit and prescription medications. Parental Consent for Opioid Prescriptions During “Gap Years” 18-25

The group discussed requiring parental consent for Opioid prescriptions for pain relief for children during what Stevenson called “the gap years,” referring to age 18-25 when young people are still on their parents health insurance but are often away at college. Stevenson said that as a mother of five children, she had been to too many funerals.

Darien police have announced that police officers have been trained in using naloxone, a medicine that can dramatically turn around some heroin overdoses for temporary periods (although the patient will need to get to a hospital for further treatment). A Darien EMS volunteer recently described how Darien EMS-Post 53 used naloxone (specifically the “Narcan” brand of naloxone) on a patient twice within a few days. What follows is the police announcement and an excerpt from a recent Darien.com article about the use of the drug, which was described at the Nov. 5 “StraightTalk” panel discussion. Here’s the Darien Police Department announcement:

Over the past week, officers from the Darien Police Department were trained in the use of naloxone (“Narcan”).

After heroin was found in a pickup truck driven by a 25-year-old Darien man, cops confiscated the rifle that was in his car and then 66 other guns in his home, police said. A police sergeant had described the incident as one involving a man going to his heroin dealer to trade his gun for more of the drug, but the sergeant, Jeremiah Marron, said police were no longer asserting that. Police gave this account (involving accusations not proven in court) of the incident:

Police had been suspected Joezef Tarnowsky, 25, of 9 Richmond Dr. was violating drug law. At 11:20 a.m., when a police officer was parked on Old Kings Highway North, he saw Tarnowsky’s gray GMC pickup truck drive by with dark tinted windows and no visible sticker on the window indicating that the tint met state regulations. The officer stopped the truck near the intersection of Old Kings Highway North and Park Lane.

The second of two presentations on heroin use in Darien continues on Thursday night, Nov. 5, at Darien Town Hall Auditorium. The two-part series, sponsored by Darien Depot and Darien Police Department, is scheduled to last an hour, from 7 to 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 2 Renshaw Road. The panel discussion, geared especially for parents, is titled “Straight Talk-Lifting the Veil: Facing the Hidden Drug Epidemic in Darien – Part 2.” The presentation panel includes:

Ingrid Gillespie – Communities4Action
Roody Joseph, M.Ed., LPC – Center for Discovery and Change
John Douglas, M.D. – Silver Hill Hospital
Officer Michael Cummings – Darien Police Department
Sargent TJ White – Darien Police Department
Nick deSpoelberch, Recovery Speaker

Space is limited, please register for the program at dariendepot.eventbrite.com.

Heroin is cheap in Darien and the region, is available to youth, and in fighting it the “best tool we can possibly have in this battle is an engaged and active parent who knows what’s going on in their kids’ lives,” Police Chief Duane Lovello says. “We do have investigations going on right now, as we speak, into heroin ‘trafficking,’ so to speak and use here in Darien,” he told the Police Commission on Wednesday. “We are seeing a significant uptick in heroin usage,” he continued. “We are seeing more of it being marketed in Darien, we are seeing more of it being used in Darien. […] That’s not just affecting Darien, but it’s affecting […] the entire Northeast.”

« August 2022 »

Darien Police released this statement on the arrests of two men, Joshua Sanchez of Ansonia and Roberto Cales of Seymour, both 24, on an accusation they were selling heroin in Darien. Here’s the news release:

Over the past several weeks, the Darien Police Department Selective Enforcement Unit (S.E.U.) developed information involving the delivery and sale of heroin in the northwest section of town. From Jan. 1 to July 31, 2015 there have been twenty-eight (28) confirmed heroin related overdose fatalities in Fairfield County. That number does not include the dozens of non-fatal heroin related overdoses that have occurred in our area as well. Investigators determined that during the evening hours of Aug.