After years of climbing up on rooftops and streets, he was finally admitted to one of two facilities where illegal drug use is being allowed by local officials.
New York City’s private “overdose prevention center” is equipped and staffed to reverse overdoses. This bold response to the storm tide of opioid overdose deaths in the country is contested.
The sites, also known as safe injection spots or supervised consumption areas, are supported by supporters who believe they provide humane and realistic solutions to the worst drug crisis in American history. Critics view them as illegal and defeatist solutions to the harm drug use causes to communities and users.
Collado, 53 years old, considers the space he uses frequently to be a “blessing.”
He says, “They are always concerned about you and taking care of your needs.”
Steve Baez, his friend, says that “they make sure you don’t get killed.” He’s 45 years old and has been close to death a few times.
The sites in Manhattan’s East Harlem, Washington Heights and Washington Heights stopped more than 150 overdoses in their first three months. There were approximately 9,500 visits to the sites — many repeat visits by around 800 people. They plan to increase their round-the-clock availability later in the year.
Sam Rivera, executive director of OnPoint NYC (a non-profit that manages the centers, said, “It’s an environment where people can use safely, stay alive.” “We are showing up for people that too many people consider disposable.”
The history of supervising drug-consumption sites dates back to decades in Europe, Australia, and Canada. Although several U.S. cities have approved the idea, Rhode Island has not yet opened any authorized sites. However, New York’s opened in October (researchers discovered an underground location in an unidentified U.S. area for many years). Six weeks after the U.S. announced its decision, New York’s announcement was made. Six weeks after the U.S. announced it, New York’s announcement was made.
Despite the Philadelphia case winning, the U.S. Justice Department suggested last month that it may stop fightingsuch websites, saying it was evaluating them, and discussing “appropriate safeguardrails.”
New York City’s Republican Senator Nicole Malliotakis has asked the Justice Department for closure of “heroin-shooting galleries that only encourage drug abuse and degrade our quality life”.
She proposed that federal money be taken from any state, private or local government that “operates” or controls safe injection sites. (Her efforts prompted a protest in Lower Manhattan Wednesday by VOCALNY, a social services group interested in opening a consumption site.
A leading sponsor of a proposal to combat addiction, Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney from New York, is another New Yorker in Congress. The organizers claim that the New York sites are currently funded by private donations. However, their parent group receives city and state money to support syringe exchange and counseling, as well as other services.
They have been welcomed by several state and local officials. They also fueled a December protest, which drew more than 100 people, including U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (New York Democrat). Espaillat complained that drug programs are unfairly concentrated within the neighborhoods of injection sites and kept out from whiter, wealthier areas.
Shawn Hill, co-founder of the Greater Harlem Coalition, stated that “the safe consumption site is doing God’s work, but they’re doing it in a wrong place.”
People bring their own drugs — of whatever type — to the consumption rooms, but they’re stocked with syringes, alcohol wipes, straws for snorting, other paraphernalia and, crucially, oxygen and the opioid-overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
Some staff members have been exposed to illegal drugs and are trained to spot signs of overconsumption.
Adrian Feliciano supported a depressed man by placing his hand on his shoulder. He was elated to see a counselor for mental health and brought him in on a recent afternoon.
Feliciano, the center’s holistic and clinical care director, stated that “for a lot our folks, just providing an safe space is an introduction into services.”
Despite all the great services and overdoses it has reversed, OnPoint still has its limits. Two regulars were killed and another was hospitalized for overdoses in February. The senior program director KailinSee believes that longer hours would have saved the victims. (The third person was recovered).
According to 2021 reports, there have been no deaths from supervised injections in countries that allow them. There is also evidence that they are associated with fewer overdose deaths, ambulance calls, and other health issues in their communities, according to existing studies.
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review in Boston found no correlation between safe injection sites and various crime rates. However, some areas saw a drop in public drug use.
“If you believe that harm reduction is possible, this harm reduction can save you money,” Dr. David Rind, chief medical officer of the think tank, stated.
Jim Crotty, an ex-official of the Drug Enforcement Administration during the Obama and Trump administrations believes that the sites’ lifesaving function comes at a high social cost.
Crotty said that the goal of drug treatment policymakers should not be limited to keeping people alive. “If you think that drugs are very harmful, the goal should be to stop using them,” said Crotty.
Rivera for his part stresses the need to stop the flow of drugs into America. He doesn’t see it as blaming poor people “for using the drug that was allowed in.” OnPoint claims staffers foster but don’t force clients to talk about treatment.
See: “You must be alive to attempt again.”
Collado said that he tried to quit using drugs over the past four decades, but he had to stop at times. He lives on the streets, like many others who use the consumption areas.
Baez and he look out for one another. They have helped each other solve problems, shared money when one was in financial trouble, and made sure neither of them would die from overdose. This last role is filled by the room and all that it offers.
Collado stated, “This is my home right now.” Collado said, “This is my family.”
