According to state and local health departments, the number of deaths related to opioid and heroin use is on the rise in Monroe County. To shed light on what law enforcement and health care providers are calling an “epidemic”, WXXI-TV and its national healthcare series Second Opinion will devote an evening of special programming on the issue on Thursday, October 26th. The night kicks off at 8 p.m. with Overdose: Inside the Epidemic, a Second Opinion special that features a local couple whose son struggled with drug abuse, opioid use and heroin addiction, and eventually died from a heroin overdose. His parents courageously share their story – telling their personal experience of his decline.

Immediately following the special, WXXI-TV will host a town-hall style forum to continue the conversation along with a live phone bank where individuals can call in with questions and learn more about local resources to help with addiction. Second Opinion LIVE will air from 9 to 9:30 p.m. and we’ll keep the phone banks open for an additional half hour to answer your questions. Special thanks to the Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk Foundation for supporting the town hall forum with a generous grant and to Second Opinion’s major funder, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, for their continued support of our national health care series and for assistance in providing resource materials for this special.

Following Overdose: Inside the Epidemic and Second Opinion LIVE, WXXI-TV will air Reversing the Stigma at 9:30 p.m. This documentary includes stories from New Yorkers in recovery from substance use disorders. The film also examines the steps New York State is taking to address addiction and to support people whose lives it has touched. The evening concludes with an encore broadcast of Second Opinion: Opioids to Heroin Addiction at 10:30 p.m.