Jefferson Woman: Heroin Almost Killed My Son

Judy Castiglione compared the substance abuse issue in her family to a puzzle. There were so many pieces, she said, that she didn’t want to put together.

And when she did, the picture wasn’t something she wanted to see.

Castiglione's son Will, now 21, was addicted to heroin. The Lake Hopatcong resident recently said at a candidates’ night for prospective board of education members that her son was first offered drugs at Jefferson Township Middle School, nearly 10 years ago. She now believes that Will’s problem started long before she actually was ready to admit it.

“I saw so many changes in him,” she said. “There was a change in his temper. He slammed doors, and there was heightened anger. His eyes were often red, and he would tell me he was around friends who have a cat or a dog, or he didn’t get enough sleep. He would always have a hood or a hat on, and never make direct eye contact with me. It was like he was trying to hide who he was."

Finally, Castiglione said, she put all these pieces together—and the picture “was very frightening.”

That’s when she began to try and get help for Will. And that’s when she began to see what she described as "a very flawed system."

Each day this week, Jefferson Patch explores the impact drugs are having on our community. Monday, we discussed the growing concern over hard drugs, such as heroin, in Jefferson Township; We also told the story of a Jefferson man whose family struggled for years with addiction. Tuesday, . Wednesday, . 

"The insurance system is so horribly flawed," Castiglione said. "We found that to get into detox, you have to have a certain amount of drugs in your system. But first you have to find an open bed in detox, and then you have to go through insurance, and by that time, you may no longer have enough drugs in your system to go to detox."

“Then, you can get into an IOP, intensive outpatient program,” she said. “If you relapse at outpatient three times, you can go into an inpatient program. But think about that. You’re taking a person when they are at their weakest, suffering from withdrawal, and tell them, ‘If you relapse three times we’ll help you.' They have to fail at something that might kill them before the system will help.

She said she'd rather see addicts put into inpatient facilities first: "Get them away from everyone who is feeding them, let them get strong and back on their feet in a safe, secure environment.”

While Will was going through outpatient treatment, his mother took it upon herself to help him—aggressively. She found his disposable cell phone. This was, she had learned from many programs she had attended, one of the signs that your child may have substance abuse issues. She then called all the contacts in there.

“I told them that I knew who they were, and that they were to leave my son alone or I would be calling the cops,” she said.

Castiglione also took her son’s GPS and went to some of the places where he bought drugs with the same stern warning.

“I told people that they would have to go through me to get to Will,” she said. “I’m not saying that my way is the right way for everyone, but at some point I decided I had to take my child back.”

And finally, Will agreed. 

"Last summer, Will realized that if he didn't get help, he was going to die," Castiglione said. "He came to me and said, 'Okay, I'm ready, I need help.'"

"You have to have all your ducks in a row," she continued. "Will was ready to get help, and there was a place, Clearbrook Treatment Center in Pennsylvania, that had a bed for him and didn't need for him to detox first. It's like finally winning the million dollar lottery when it all works out."

Castiglione said that “now, Will is doing great. He’s going to college, getting As and Bs, working part-time, and has an amazing girlfriend. I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

And now, Castiglione wants to help other families avoid the pain she had to endure.

“Other towns have random drug testing policies in effect, and they are working,” she said. “I'd like to see it happen initially in Jefferson with parents volunteering to sign their kids up for it. If we had that, it would be another way our kids could say no."

“If we had badly contaminated water in town, or we found that there were an abnormally large number of people in a certain part of town that were getting cancer, we’d be all over those things,” she said. “Substance abuse is just as big and important of an issue. We need to stand together as a town on this.”

Jefferson Patch will continue the conversation on drug testing in schools Friday.