Gravesend church to host discussion on South Brooklyn drug use epidemic

In the wake of countless young people being severely injured or dying from drug use in South Brooklyn, Trinity Tabernacle of Gravesend (121 Gravesend Neck Road) will host a discussion on how the community can be part of the solution on Thursday, August 25 at 5:15 p.m.

The church’s discussion will feature Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams as well as other speakers who will offer possible approaches to solving what some are calling an epidemic as of late.

Trinity Tabernacle’s event will also feature a march from East First Street and Gravesend Neck Road to Lady Moody Triangle at Village Road North and Avenue U.

The event will take place just a couple of short weeks after local cops saved two people who had overdosed in separate incidents. On Wednesday, August 10, police officers from the 68th Precinct rescued an unconscious 27-year-old man in Bay Ridge who had overdosed on heroin. Just a few hours later, in the early morning of Thursday, August 11, a 19-year-old woman in Bay Ridge was rescued by the 68 after being found unconscious and unresponsive due to heroin use. Both individuals were stabilized after being administered Narcan.

Last May, the 68th Precinct recovered 23 bags of heroin and 80 Oxycodone tablets from a man at 86th Street and Fourth Avenue. The very same month, the 62nd Precinct found a man in Bensonhurst in possession of two glassine envelopes of heroin.

In March of last year, a 23-year-old man was arrested by the 62nd Precinct in Bensonhurst for being in possession of 410 glassines of heroin, over 100 bags of crack cocaine and one bag of marijuana.

Prescription painkillers are also a large source of drug abuse for both adults and teenagers. One in 20 people in the United States over the age 11 has reported using prescription painkillers without medical reason. According to the Department of Health, 58 Brooklyn residents died of heroin-related drug overdoses in 2011. That number rose to 84 residents in 2012.

The church is currently in the process of contacting other local pols to participate in the discussion.