New York inaugurated this Tuesday (30) the first rooms in the United States for drug addicts to use drugs in a supervised manner, a measure that integrates efforts to try to contain the epidemic of overdose deaths in the country.
The Overdose Prevention Centers will be managed by two syringe service providers, organizations that provide access and disposal of these items for controlled drug use.
Advocates of health-promoting drug policy argue that it is better to provide clean, safe places for drug addicts as a harm-reduction measure. A study by the city’s health department estimates that these centers could prevent 130 deaths a year from overdose in the city.
For Mayor Bill de Blasio, these sites “are a safe and effective way to deal with the opioid crisis,” he said. “I am proud to show the cities of this country that, after decades of failure, a smarter approach is possible,” he said.
Director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), Melissa Moore called the initiative “a milestone in the fight to end New York’s overdose deaths.” “If we are to save lives, reduce criminalization and contain racial inequalities, we need comprehensive, innovative and forward-thinking approaches.”
Critics of this type of service claim, on the other hand, that opening these spaces poses a threat to the communities where they are located, because they would facilitate drug use.
De Blasio, who will step down as mayor in January after two terms, has long supported the opening of these sites, which already exist in at least ten countries, according to the DPA: Germany, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Spain, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland. During the mayoral campaign, Mayor-elect Eric Adams also voiced support for these devices.
In addition to allowing users to inject drugs under supervision, centers must provide users with syringes and other supplies, as well as drugs to reverse overdoses and treatment options.
Last year, New York City overdose deaths jumped to more than 2,000, the highest number since tracking began in 2000. Nearly 600 people died in the first quarter of 2021, according to preliminary data from the city, the largest part in a single quarter.
The city says that the rate of overdose deaths in the city rose from 21.9 cases per 100,000 population in 2019 to 30.5 per 100,000 in 2020. The majority of those deaths (85%) involved opioids. This is a problem that affects most blacks (a group in which the rate is 38.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants).
Across the country, the opioid epidemic — which has worsened since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020 — has devastated thousands of lives. According to data released earlier this month, more than 100,000 Americans died of an overdose between April 2020 and April 2021, a historic record in the country and greater than the sum of deaths from firearms and traffic accidents.
The increase was boosted by synthetic opioids, especially illegally manufactured fentanyl — the drug, a hundred times more powerful than morphine, is often used with other substances that enhance its effects. According to the City of New York, 77% of overdoses recorded in the city in 2020 involved fentanyl, usually mixed with heroin, cocaine, alcohol, opioid-based pain relievers and amphetamines.
Other cities in the United States, such as San Francisco, have plans to open safe injection sites, but New York was the first of them. Legal barriers at the federal and state level have hampered efforts to establish supervised consumer services.
Earlier this year, a coalition of mayors sent a letter to the country’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, seeking to clarify the Justice Department’s position on a section of the Controlled Substances Act that says it is illegal to keep any site for use. of controlled substances.
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