New York City will open two supervised injection sites in a move to ease the opioid crisis after a year of record drug overdose deaths in the city and across the country.
“Overdose prevention centers” are scheduled to open in East Harlem and Washington Heights on Tuesday and will be operated through nonprofits New York Harm Reduction Educators and the Washington Heights Corner Project, city fitness officials said Monday. of the city and will merge to form a coalition called “OnPoint NYC”.
Staff will receive the overdose reversal drug naloxone and blank needles for users who provide injectable medications, officials said.
“Overdose prevention centers can change the course of the fight against the opioid crisis, and New York City is in a position to lead the way,” Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Melanie Hartzog said Monday. “We lost too much. It’s time to take ambitious action to help our most vulnerable neighbors and the communities they call home. “
In 2020, more than 2,000 people died from drug overdoses in the city, the highest number on record since it became known in 2000, according to the city’s fitness department. Between January and March this year, the city recorded 596 deaths. , the maximum in a singles quarter. Across the country, more than 90,000 people died from overdoses last year, which was also the worst year on record.
For years, activists have been calling on the city to open the country’s first supervised injection sites. A formalized plan was unveiled as early as 2016, under the leadership of City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who chaired the fitness committee at the time, and in 2018. , Mayor Bill de Blasio began publicly co-sponsoring the idea.
However, the plan required approval from the state fitness department, which is controlled through the governor. While the former governor. Andrew Cuomo, first of all, was tempered by the idea, the sites never materialized and faced legal hurdles under former President Donald Trump, whose Justice Department threatened to sue cities that had them. they were considering.
Now, with Cuomo and Trump out and de Blasio contemplating a run for governor in the final 10 weeks of his term as mayor, the plan has gotten back on track and gained renewed attention from the governor.
“I’m talking to all the advocates and lawmakers about this and I need us to do an examination on this as well,” Gov. Kathy Hochul told The Long-Island Press in October when she signed a package of drug laws.
Activists and lawmakers defended the initiative after Monday’s announcement.
“For more than 29 years, we have committed our lives to ending overdose deaths, criminalization and stigma related to substance use,” the Harm Reduction tweeted. “To be the first OPC site in the U. S. It’s an honor and a step forward to end the overdose #crisis. “
Others doubted a possible influx of drug addicts into their neighborhoods.
“If each and every community in New York City has a site and it’s not right next to my house, I’m not opposed,” Eva Chan, a member of Community Board 11 in East Harlem, told The New York Times. . ” But the explanation for why other people shoot here is because they’ve been in East Harlem as a sell-off for a long time. Therefore, they are not addressing the root cause.
Authorities said Monday that several agencies would be sent to monitor the streets surrounding the sites when they open.
De Blasio also sent a letter to the site’s operators assuring them they would be targeted by police, the Times reported.
In the past, New York City Police Department officials have expressed openness to the sites, and 4 of the five district attorneys founded in the township are reported to have also voiced their support.
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