Hartford — State Rep. Joe de la Cruz, D-Groton, rolled up his shirt sleeve Wednesday during his swearing in at the opening of the 2017 legislative session to reveal a freshly healed tattoo with a smiling likeness of his late son, Joey Gingerella.

Gingerella, 24, was fatally shot in December while coming to the aid of a woman being assaulted outside a Groton bar, according to witnesses. It was Gingerella’s struggle to recover from opioid addiction that was one of the driving forces behind de la Cruz’s successful run for a seat in the 41st House District serving Groton and New London.

It made for an emotional day for de la Cruz and members of his family who joined him at the State Capitol: his parents, daughter, and his campaign manager and wife, Tammy de la Cruz, who co-founded the group Community Speaks Out.

“I was sworn in with my hand up so he could be here with us,” de la Cruz said in reference to his son. “He was here with us. I could feel him.”

De la Cruz was among the first of the newly elected members of the legislature from southeastern Connecticut to introduce a bill — one that was related to the statewide opioid crisis and his son’s addiction.

The bill would require labels on opioid prescriptions that clearly identify the drug as addictive with a 1 through 10 rating system to be determined by a health professional. He said it could be a “game changer” in the war against opioid addiction, where 80 percent of addiction stems from commonly prescribed drugs like OxyContin and Percocet.

“I basically want any opiate prescription pain medication to have a heroin level rating system so parents and regular lay people know what this drug is,” de la Cruz said. “When you go to get your wisdom teeth out, if the parent knows that it’s heroin ... it's going to make them use it properly and not just hand it to their kids every three hours for five or six days. And that’s really what we’re seeing happening. We can’t stop addiction faster than were making new people that are addicted.”

De la Cruz said it was easier than he thought to propose a bill and was helped along by his new legislative colleagues.

“You don’t have to be a lawyer to be a legislator. You can come up here with your ideas. That excited me,” de la Cruz said. “I thought I was going to have to write a bill. I’m a sheet metal worker, not a bill writer, but I do have ideas."

g.smith@theday.com