BUFFALO, N.Y. (wkbw) — Chris Harzynski has seen firsthand how deadly fentanyl can be.
"They say one pinprick enough to fit on a pinhead can kill somebody," he said.
Harzynski is an outreach worker, devoted to getting Narcan and other harm-reduction tools into the hands of people with a substance use disorder.
He co-founded Creative Restorations last year to help people prevent overdoses and get people into treatment before it's too late.
His work is ongoing as law enforcement continues its fight against deadly overdoses.
Thursday, local authorities arrested three Buffalo men on charges of narcotics conspiracy.
They were involved in a previous case from 2020 which then U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy called "perhaps the most prolific drug trafficking organization currently operating here in Western New York."
The three suspects, David Washington, Torrance Bailey and Devante Nance, were arraigned in federal court Friday morning as an indictment against them was unsealed.
Authorities accused them of distributing large quantities of fentanyl.
The 2020 case against Washington and Bailey is still pending and both of the men were out on bail under house arrest.
Nance already served his sentence and was released this January on three-year probation.
U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Schroeder ordered the three men remanded without bail Friday, pending possible future hearings on their detainment.
Their attorneys said Friday that they had only just received a copy of the indictment against them and were not ready to comment.
In the meantime, Harzynski is finding new ways to get Narcan into the community.
His latest project: putting purple boxes at corner stores packed with free packages of Narcan.
"So anyone in the community, doesn't matter who they are, with no judgment, no stigma related to it, they can come right here," he said, pointing to a newly installed box at a shop on the city's West Side.
"We have to fill the bottom of these with sand so that way they don't blow away because Buffalo winters are super, super windy," he said.
Harzynski is passionate about his mission because he has lived through the horrors. It tore apart his family and then he battled substance use disorder and he went to jail for a crime he committed during that time.
"I'm a firm believer in treatment over incarceration because at the end of the day, what is the person learning? If you're just locking them up? If you're not providing any, any groups, any skills to help them change, you're not really providing a learning lesson, right? You're just holding them somewhere for a period of time. So, but when it comes to individuals that are peddling this poison in our neighborhood, there's no room for that," said Harzynski.
