Sage’s Army still waging battle against drug abuse; mission continues after 10 years

By: Joe Napsha
Thursday, March 31, 2022 | 12:01 AM

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Norwin graduate Troy Jones hit rock bottom four years ago when he “died.” It happened as Jones was driving on Route 30 in North Versailles, as a result of a dose of heroin laced, unknown to him, with fentanyl, a deadly drug that dealers often add to heroin and cocaine.

“I had to be revived a bunch of times with Narcan,” Jones said of that day — April 29, 2018 — which was a fall from his nine-month sobriety.

It was then that Jones, an Army combat veteran who served in Iraq in 2004-05, turned to a different kind of army — Sage’s Army.

Jones, a Donora resident, is now a certified recovery specialist with Hempfield-based Sage’s Army, helping those deal with and recover from the addiction he struggled with.

“Whatever keeps the needle out of your arm and bottle out of your mouth, we support it,” Jones told more than 100 people who had gathered at the Westmoreland County Community College campus near Youngwood to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sage’s Army.

“We are 110% invested in our peers,” Jones said, referring to those who seek help through a variety of programs.

Sage’s Army, an initiative to raise awareness of drug addiction and help those seeking recovery, was created in the aftermath of the overdose death of 20-year-old Sage Capozzi in a Hempfield motel. From that tragedy, his father, Carmen, founded Sage’s Army to help those in the throes of drug dependency, as well as their families.

As he looked around a room full of more than 100 supporters of Sage’s Army on Wednesday, Capozzi said he “never thought it would be 10 years later and the need is still here.”

“The families are still coming into Sage’s Army, seeking help,” Capozzi said. “Look at the statistics.”

Westmoreland County had a 30% spike in fatal drug overdoses last year, compared with 2020.

The spike may be caused, in part, by the covid-19 pandemic, when people were restricted in what they could do, in addition to the stresses related to covid and possible job loss, said Tim Phillips, executive director of the Westmore­land Drug Overdose Task Force.

Phillips said they are hoping to work with the state Department of Health on an overdose review committee to take a “deeper dive” into some of the overdose cases to try to determine the causes.

Not only were drug overdose deaths on the rise last year, but death from alcohol abuse was up by about 27% last year, Phillips said.

Richard Jones, executive director of Sage’s Army, says they have made progress in battling drug addiction, but “basically, we’re still losing the battle.”

Most of those people who are in the midst of their struggles with addiction are “suffering in silence,” Jones said.

“Sage’s Army can help those folks,” he said.

Jones had an ominous warning for any former addict who thinks they are “cured” of their addiction once they finish a stint in a rehabilitation center. Jones knows, because he went through rehab 17 times before sobriety stuck.

“This is something from which you never graduate. This is for a lifetime,” Jones said. “My obsession to stay clean is greater than to use.”