NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Wants to Open Safe Drug Injection Centers for Opioid Crisis Prevention
Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to end the ongoing opioid epidemic by opening four supervised drug injection facilities in New York City.
On Thursday, the New York City mayor released a statement about his plans to come up with several supervised injection facilities where people who inject drugs can do so with medical supervision.
"The opioid epidemic has killed more people in our city than car crashes and homicides combined," de Blasio said in a statement that was posted by New York Post. "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," the mayor added.
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New York Times claimed that a report produced together with New York's health department predicted that the four injection centers might help prevent as many as 130 overdose deaths per year. Last year alone, the city recorded around 1441 overdose deaths. This happened to be the highest number recorded by the city.
The sites where de Blasio was planning to open the one-year pilot needle exchange centers in the city will be located at the Gowanus neighborhood in Brooklyn, Midtown West, as well as the Washington Heights in Manhattan as well as the Longwood area in The Bronx.
However, New York Times revealed that the Justice Department already refused to reply to the mayor's plans. But the spokesperson from Washington's Justice Department named Drew Hudson warned any public officials from New York to push through with the plan based on the declaration that was released by the US attorney for Vermont back in December.
Based on the declaration, "It is a crime, not only to use illicit narcotics, but to manage and maintain sites on which such drugs are used and distributed."
The New York City mayor reportedly acknowledged the challenges that his plan would encounter during a radio interview on WNYC.
The mayor mentioned that he knows that there will be a lot of law enforcement and legal concerns about the opening of the planned opioid centers. However, he believes that by doing he, he will be able to save lives. "We will see a number of people who would otherwise have died of an overdose be in a setting where they can be saved," de Blasio also stated.
The city mayor also mentioned that two district attorneys expressed their support in his initiative. This includes DA Cy Vance from Manhattan and DA Eric Gonzalez in Brooklyn. On the other hand, DA Darcel Clark from the Bronx is reportedly open-minded about the proposal and vowed to carefully analyze it.
Another report also claimed that there are two other Council members who are reviewing the mayor's proposal, including Ydanis Rodriguez from Washington Heights and Rafael Salamanca from the Bronx.
The mayor also stated that he will make sure that there will be a stronger police presence outside the planned drug injection facilities to prevent drug addicts to leave the area while they are still under the influence of the illegal substances. This will make sure that illegal activities will be prevented around the area.
