County man's overdose death helps spur state-level action: The mother is on a panel that advises the legislature of possible improvements in treating drug and alcohol addictions

Dante R. "Danny" Sciarretta died of a heroin overdose in his car on Wood Street near Lincoln Park in York on May 13, 2004.

The 26-year-old could have survived had he been injected with Narcan, a medical staple found in emergency rooms and ambulances.

Instead of seeking help, Michael Jeffrey Duke abandoned his friend and went home. Sciarretta's body was found the next day.

Duke, 29, pleaded guilty in 2006 to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor. Because of his own drug problems and repeated failures at rehabilitation, Judge Penny L. Blackwell sentenced him to the maximum 21/2 to five years in prison.

At the urging of Sciarretta's mother, state Sen. Mike Waugh, R-Shrewsbury Township, has introduced a bill that would make Duke's actions a second-degree felony, punishable by up to five to 10 years.

Waugh's bill is before the judiciary committee.

"It's important because there are two things we're trying to do," Charlene Sciarretta said. "With 'Danny's Story,' it's a prevention piece, trying to get to the kids before they get involved.

"And the second piece is justice. Without that, there's chaos. Maybe the young man with Danny that night might have made another choice."

Since her son's death, Sciarretta has told Danny's Story "to anyone who will listen" -- school assemblies, probation departments, churches and individuals. And from her travels in that cause, she was referred to the Pennsylvania Parent Panel Advisory Council.

Created in 2006

by a House resolution, the PPAC is comprised of parents whose children were affected in some manner by substance abuse. The panel's task was to examine access to addiction intervention and treatment services and make recommendations to the House Health and Human Services Committee.

Sciarretta and 17 other parents were recruited into the PPAC, and in September 2007, the panel began addressing statewide substance intervention and treatment problems.

"Unfortunately, it was a cause I was qualified for," Sciarretta said. "The more I go around telling Danny's Story, the more I hear about other things. It's a whole different world out there. And not one I ever saw myself in."

Last week in Harrisburg, Sciarretta and the PPAC spoke before the Health and Human Services committee.

The panel determined there are major problems -- particularly concerning juvenile drug users -- in locating and accessibility into treatment referral programs. Other problems the panel found include lack of sufficient emergency care, denial of insurance coverage, lack of after-care support and insufficient funding for treatment centers.

Among the panel's recommendations are:

--- Making the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs a cabinet-level position answering directly to the governor;

--- Implement a "211" emergency phone system for easier access to information and referral services;

--- Develop a system that assures immediate referrals from hospital emergency rooms to treatment services in drug-related matters;

--- Educate physicians, who are among the fewest making addiction referrals, to be the first to identify addiction and provide access to treatment and services;

--- Re-examine school zero tolerance policies to foster an environment conducive to treatment and referral instead of expulsion;

--- Conduct the PA Youth Survey, which monitors violence, alcohol, tobacco and drug use, in all schools to determine areas that would benefit most from prevention resources.