The supervised injection sites in New York City are calling for Biden |

Just weeks after opening, monitored injection sites in New York City may have saved dozens of lives, leading city leaders to urge the Biden government to approve similar harm reduction programs nationwide.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s health department announced on Nov. 30 that the city’s first publicly accredited Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs) have opened. Also commonly known as supervised injection sites, OPCs provide a safe place for people to consume illegal drugs under the supervision of staff trained in the event of an overdose.

Other services such as clean needle exchanges, HIV testing, and referrals to addiction treatment programs are often available at supervised injection sites.

De Blasio, who has been calling for an OPC pilot program since 2018, found that more than 2,000 people died of drug overdoses in New York City in 2020, the highest number since reporting began in 2000. More than 90,000 people died nationwide of an overdose in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the worst year ever.

Monitored injection sites save lives

Monitored injection sites around the world have been saving lives for decades. Research over 30 years at more than 100 such institutions has proven the effectiveness of such programs. Overdose deaths have never been recorded at a supervised injection site, and research has also shown the locations reduce public drug use, syringe waste, and drug-related crime in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“After in-depth studies, we know the right way to protect the most vulnerable people in our city and will not hesitate to take it,” said de Blasio in a statement at the time. “Overdose prevention centers are a safe and effective way to manage the opioid crisis. I’m proud to show cities in this country that after decades of failure, a smarter approach is possible. “

Councilor Mark Levine, chairman of the city council’s health committee, said “NYC has taken historic action against the growing crisis in opioid deaths by opening the country’s first overdose prevention centers.”

“This strategy has been shown to save lives and is desperately needed at a time when the death toll is rising rapidly,” added Levine. “I applaud the city and the providers who offer these life-saving services for taking this courageous approach to stopping this crisis.”

The city’s OPCs are operated by the New York Harm Reduction Educators advisory and educational group, which has opened two supervised injection sites in existing facilities in Harlem and Washington Heights. On December 14th, just two weeks after the program began, the two sites had registered 350 participants and the staff had already reversed 43 overdoses, according to a report from WNYC / Gothamist.

City guides seek assistance in managing Biden

The success of the New York OPCs has led a group of city guides to call on President Joe Biden’s administration to support federal approval of regulated injection sites across the country. Under the Federal Controlled Substances Act, it is illegal to operate, own, or rent a location for the purpose of using illegal drugs.

In a December 15 comment, New York Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Biden to provide legal protection to OPCs that open across the country.

They found that New York joined the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Somerville, Massachusetts in an April letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Department of Justice to prioritize enforcement of federal drug laws over supervised injection sites . So far, however, no response has been received from federal officials.

Citizens leaders also noted that Biden was recently the first president to include harm reduction in his drug policy priorities, saying the New York OPCs could be a model for the nation. The US rescue plan, passed by Congress in March, allocated $ 30 million to state, local, and tribal governments and organizations for overdose prevention and harm reduction.

“The time has come to develop bold strategies in the face of public health crises, even if they may seem radical at first,” they wrote on BuzzFeed News. “Thirty years ago, in the midst of the HIV / AIDS epidemic, New York activists launched one of the first syringe service programs in the country, reducing HIV transmission among people who inject drugs and preventing countless deaths.”

“We call on the Biden government to support overdose prevention centers and empower state and local jurisdictions to use their resources and powers to the full to build healthier and safer cities, towns and cities,” concluded the Ombudsman.