De Blasio Backs Plan To Open Supervised Injection Sites

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing for New York City to become the first city in the United States to have safe injection sites for illegal drug users as part of a pioneering yet controversial effort to combat fatal overdoses.

Dozens of supervised injection sites have opened in Canada, Europe and elsewhere in the past decade, but there are currently none in the U.S., although officials in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Seattle have made moves to open them.

The facilities are designed to provide a safe place, away from public areas, where drug users can inject heroin under the watchful eye of medical professionals.

"The opioid epidemic has killed more people in our city than car crashes and homicides combined," said de Blasio, whose endorsement of the plan comes on the same day the city's Health Department released a long-awaited study that claimed the program could prevent 130 overdose deaths each year.

Preliminary data shows there were 1,441 overdose deaths in New York City in 2017.

On Thursday, Deputy Mayor Herminia Palacio sent a letter to New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker asking him to authorize or license four injection sites, saying that Zucker had the authority to permit such sites if they were part of a research study.

If the plan is approved, Overdose Prevention Centers under a one-year pilot program would open at current needle exchanges in Gowanus, Brooklyn, Midtown West and Washington Heights in Manhattan and Washington Heights, and Longwood in the Bronx. Trained staff would be available to administer naloxone, an overdose-reversing drug, and addiction guidance counseling.

"After a rigorous review of similar efforts across the world, and after careful consideration of public health and safety expert views, we believe overdose prevention centers will save lives and get more New Yorkers into the treatment they need to beat this deadly addiction," de Blasio said in a statement.

City officials say the proposed plan would need approval from the state Department of Health, council members representing the sites and an agreement from district attorneys to shield clients and operators from prosecution.

"We are in the midst of an overdose crisis and cannot sit by and let people die when there are proven interventions that can save lives and help people get into treatment," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

"I intend to work with the NYPD, local officials and members of the community to make sure that any facility opened in Brooklyn would be safely integrated into the community and would connect substance users to treatment and other health and social programs."

In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. said his office "is proud to support the Mayor's proposal to establish Overdose Prevention Centers."

"New Yorkers who are suffering and dying from opioids need bold public health interventions — not the heavy hand of the criminal justice system," he said.

On Twitter, Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said she was "extremely proud" of the mayor's leadership.

"The evidence is clear -- overdose prevention centers will save lives and connect people who use drugs to treatment," she said.

But Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, attacked the injection facilities plan.

"It's total insanity," he said. "Drugs are illegal. So we are now telling people it's OK to break the law."

Asked about it Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo would not commit to supporting the idea. However, he said the state Health Department will review the proposal.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

In:
• Opioid Epidemic
• Bill de Blasio