Mother urges ‘Jonathan’s Legacy’ law as county officials pledge to draft supportive resolution

Dorothy Sanchez, who identified herself as the mother of a man who died of an overdose, told the Sullivan County Health and Human Services Committee that the county’s dominant addiction treatment model keeps people “managed in addiction” rather than getting them free from dependency.

"I'm here today because my son is dead," Sanchez said. She argued that medication‑assisted treatment (MAT) — the state‑funded, dominant model used in New York — substitutes one opioid for another and, in practice, prioritizes stability over abstinence.

Sanchez proposed what she called “Jonathan’s Legacy,” a package of policy changes that would expand long‑term, drug‑free residential recovery options, require informed‑consent protections so people are told that MAT is not the only path to recovery, and recognize faith‑based long‑term recovery homes as legitimate, funded alternatives to MAT.

Why it matters: Committee members and several public commenters framed Sanchez’s remarks against a spike in local overdoses and a perceived mismatch between lives saved by Narcan and long‑term…