Nation’s First Overdose Prevention Centers Open in NYC

By Robert Preidt and Robin Foster
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 1, 2021 (HealthDay News) — The United States’ first overdose prevention facilities have opened in New York City within the Manhattan neighborhoods of East Harlem and Washington Heights.

People will have the ability to deliver their medication and use them underneath the supervision of skilled employees members who will present clear needles, stop overdoses and supply connections to dependancy providers to those that have an interest, metropolis officers stated.

Cities and states nationwide have pushed for overdose prevention websites in recent times because the nation’s opioid epidemic has worsened.

“If you consider a public well being response to a disaster and also you wish to triage individuals to cease it, that is one intervention more than likely to do this,” Caleb Banta-Green, principal analysis scientist on the University of Washington’s Addictions, Drug and Alcohol Institute, informed NBC News. “They’re doing it in a lot of the world, so we’re actually sort of late to the sport.”

Critics argue that such websites would create areas that encourage drug use, however Banta-Green stated they cease individuals from utilizing medication alone, one thing that significantly will increase the chance of a deadly overdose. Similar packages already in use in Australia, Europe and Canada have already made a dent in fatalities: According to NBC News, overdose prevention websites in Vancouver minimize the speed of deadly overdoses there by 35%.

There have been greater than 90,000 overdose deaths within the United States in 2020, in accordance with the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 2,000 of these have been in New York City, in accordance with an official assertion saying the brand new facilities.

“The national overdose epidemic is a five-alarm fire in public health, and we have to tackle this crisis concurrently with our COVID fight,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi stated within the assertion. “Giving individuals a protected, supportive house will save lives and convey individuals in from the streets, enhancing life for everybody concerned. Overdose prevention facilities are a key a part of broader hurt discount.”

More info

Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for extra on opioids.

SOURCE: NBC News