Diane Roberts of Massena speaks of the frustration and heartache she has experienced trying to her help for her addict son. He was recently denied health insurance coverage after just two days in treatment and will soon return home, she said. NorthCountryNow.com photo by Andy Gardner.

By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Among the more than 200 people who gathered for the Massena Drug Free Coalition’s Take Back Our Community forum on Wednesday night were addicts’ loved ones and former addicts who shared their stories when given a chance to speak.

Diane Roberts of Massena spoke through tears about her frustration with the inability to her help for her son, who is a heroin addict and is being denied health insurance coverage.

“He doesn’t fit the criteria to meet a high standard of care,” Roberts told the room as to why he was turned down for coverage after just a couple days in a rehab facility. “They (insurance companies) are not the ones who stay up all night making sure he’s still breathing … watching him walk into walls and doors not knowing where he is.”

She said even getting him help in the first place was an uphill battle. Telling a tale all too familiar to those who have tried to get help for North Country addicts, Roberts said her son first tried to get sober by going to Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s detox facility, but they wouldn’t admit him.

“He doesn’t fit the criteria,” she said CPH officials told her.

She said he detoxed at home and tried out patient care, but it didn’t work.

“Three weeks later, he comes crying to me, he begs me to get him some help,” Roberts said.

She said they spent an extended period of time calling “all around the state” and finally got him into a facility on Monday.

But just a couple days later, she learned he was leaving because his insurance wouldn’t cover.

“He’s coming home tomorrow in a taxi,” Roberts said. “I don’t know what to do with him anymore.”

She then left the room in tears and was escorted a private area by members of Comrades of Hope, a local support group made up of addicts’ loved ones helping each other.

One of the group’s members, Alison Robinson, told the room her son overdosed on heroin and died 18 months ago in Massena.

She said police didn’t do an investigation and wanted to know why.

Alison Robinson listens to Massena Police Chief Mark LaBrake explain why there was no investigation into her son’s fatal heroin overdose 18 months ago.

“I lost my son a year-and-a-half ago to a heroin overdose,” Robinson said. “My family was told there’s no crime to investigate because he was alone.”

Massena Police Chief Mark LaBrake said there should have been at least an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death.

“I don’t know who told you that … anytime a death is not in the presence of a doctor, a death investigation is conducted,” LaBrake said. “If somebody takes something and they die, it’s probably an accident.”

He said although police can’t prosecute a dead person, he always wants to know and investigate the source.

“Where did he get the stuff? I’d love to know,” LaBrake said.

Some former addicts testified to the sheer power of heroin and opiates.

Barbie Goodreau of Massena said her addiction had such a grip on her that it took three relapses and a near-death experience before she was able to clean up.

“It took me three times and an overdose to learn I cannot use,” she said.

Her experience has lead her to a point where she wants to lend support to other addicts who want to change their lives.

“How do we get involved with something to reach out to other people who are using and get them help?” she asked.

Members of the Massena Drug Free Coalition then took her aside to point her in the right direction.

Danny LaPrade of Massena said he has been sober since 2001 and would not have been able to do it without intensive inpatient treatment.

“The War on Drugs is not the answer. What you’re doing here tonight is the answer,” LaPrade said. “If you would’ve put me in prison, I’d have found the drugs and kept using. I wasn’t a bad person, I was a sick person.”

Comrades of Hope meets at the Massena Community Center, 61 Beach St. Thursdays at 6 p.m. They have a Facebook page.

The Massena Drug Free Coalition meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at 2 p.m. in the Massena Town Hall's room 30. The group includes health care professionals, educators, faith-based organization leaders, law enforcement and concerned citizens. They also have a Facebook page.

Updated 10:50 a.m. Sept. 24 to correct time and place of Massena Drug Free Coalition meetings.