Residents, police officers, and members of Orange County’s Alcohol and Drug Awareness Council gathered in Montgomery’s town hall last Thursday, to ponder a burning question: how can the community, united as a coalition, address drug addiction and distribution in the town and county?

Similar to Assemblyman Brian Maher’s “Finding Hope” roundtable from last month, this meeting served as a starting point for residents to collaborate with their local officials and brainstorm short and long-term solutions to substance abuse. Both the ADAC and Montgomery Police Department encourage everyone to join the coalition and contribute to future discussions, focusing on strategies that would minimize drug usage and educate families on drug prevention.

Following a brief introduction from Montgomery Police Chief John Hank, ADAC Prevention Director MaryAlice Kovatch announced that her council and the Valley Central School District, two parties that began working together in 2015, recently established a prevention specialist department at the district to augment the faculty’s drug prevention efforts.

“We’ve been partnering with the school district since the 2015-16 school year, and something exciting that we just recently did this year was a prevention specialist place within the district. That is helping to partner and support all the prevention that’s already being done,” Kovatch said.

Jennifer Ocasio, Program Director of the Mid-Hudson Prevention Resource Center, defined what a coalition is: “A voluntary, strategic alliance to enhance our abilities to achieve a common purpose by sharing the risks, responsibilities, resources, and rewards.” This group would ideally comprise members from all 12 sectors of the community, including government, law enforcement, media, and education. This would provide the most leverage and the biggest impact possible when tackling drug addiction.

Ocasio advised residents to be observant next time they go shopping and take note of any suspicious, cannabis-related products they notice.

“We call it a community scan, and it can be massive or really small. It can be as little as, when you’re doing cleanups, letting us know how much of that trash was alcohol-related,” Ocasio said. “It can be as little as walking down Main Street and counting the number of places that sell alcohol, or how many places sell delta-8 or delta-10 CBD and other THC products in their windows.”

For more information, call or email Ocasio at jocasio@adacinfo.com or (845)-673-5903, ext. 261; Kovatch at mkovatch@adacinfo.com or (845) 673-5903, ext. 261; Lauren Savino at lsavino@orangecountygov.com.