Surrounded by the family of an 18-year-old high school student who died of a heroin overdose in June, Nassau County, N.Y., Executive Thomas Suozzi signed a bill requiring police to notify school districts about heroin arrests, reports Newsday. Named the “Natalie Ciappa Law” after the student, the law was called the first of its kind in the nation — is effective immediately.
The police department now will be required to post a map of the locations of all heroin arrests on its Web site. “Very simply the message is heroin use is very, very real,” said Suozzi. “It’s growing more now than ever before because heroin is cheaper, it’s more potent and it’s more addictive than ever before. It does not have to be injected. It can be snorted, it can be smoked, and young people in every community throughout this county are exposed to it right now.”
Link: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/nassau/ny-lihero1223,0,5546445.story