Heroin, pain-pill addicts face lifelong struggle

Countless heroin users have relapsed on their road to recovery during the past 38 years Harris Stratyner, a New York psychologist, has worked with Lower Hudson Valley drug treatment programs.

Cases of people battling addiction for months and years only to return to drugs have also mounted since 2010, as heroin-related deaths skyrocketed and claimed 230 lives in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.

John DeFonce, a former Harrison high school athlete and heroin user, may be the latest case. He died Sunday after completing a 90-day treatment program at St. Christopher’s Inn in Garrison. DeFonce was a resident at the program's halfway house in White Plains and left on a weekend pass, a program official said.

No cause of death was given, however, by authorities. An autopsy and a toxicology report are pending.

Stratyner, who is also a Mount Sinai School of Medicine associate professor, said treatment programs are voluntary in most cases and many heroin users relapse, regardless of the circumstances.

"There is certainly no cure for this disease," he said.

Don Gasparini, who has spent 17 years working in addiction treatment, including as assistant vice president of behavioral services at St. John's Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, agreed people using heroin and many other drugs face a lifelong struggle despite an array of treatment techniques.

"A patient can go away to a long-term 12-month residential program, and the day they get out they make whatever decision they’re going to make," Gasparini said. "The disease is that powerful and the cravings are that strong."

The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services could not provide information Monday on recidivism rates at substance abuse facilities. Stratyner and Gasparini both said that most heroin users involved in treatment programs relapse, but those in the early days and months are more susceptible.

Halfway houses, such as the one affiliated with St. Christopher's Inn, typically allow patients to leave for work and other reasons, such as to visit family. The decisions to support a patient's request for a weekend pass and other leaves generally involve reviews by program officials, such as a psychologist, counselor and doctor, Stratyner said.

Halfway houses and other treatment programs, including those affiliated with hospitals, are regulated by the state Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and Office of Mental Health.

"We would love to see people be able to stay longer and longer on an in-patient basis because you’re working with a net," Stratyner said.

Still, most treatment programs are voluntary, he said, with the exception of some cases involving juveniles, mental-health issues and public safety concerns, which allow for holding a patient for 72 hours before the matter is reviewed by a court.

"People can’t live in a constantly sheltered environment. You’ve gotta try to transition people back into the community," Stratyner said.

Meanwhile, some treatment programs are closing amid New York's growing heroin crisis and related pain-pill epidemic that is fueling the street drug's resurgence.