New York Senators approve bill to legalize safe drug consumption sites

A New York Senate Committee has approved a bill that authorizes the establishment of an overdose prevention facility where people can use illicit drugs under medical supervision and receive treatment.

In a voice vote, the Senate Health Committee approved the harm reduction bill from Sen. Gustavo Rivera. It was then sent to the Finance Committee.

“Harm reduction works. “Harm reduction is an approach–a method of dealing with a problem that assumes that the person who uses drugs as a person and must be dealt with where they are,” Rivera stated at the hearing. “Fact number 2, criminalization hasn’t worked.”

He said, “It is quite clear that over decades of drug war we have lost this war.” The idea that we can arrest our own way out addiction, or arrest our own way out overdoses and death has been proven false based on years of experience. “Criminalization doesn’t work.”

The bill is advancing and would require that the state Department of Health authorize at least one overdose-prevention center. This facility must provide a sterile atmosphere for people to consume substances that have been obtained in advance, and medical personnel will be on hand to prevent overdoses as well as to refer patients to treatment.

In addition, the facilities must also provide naloxone for opioid overdoses, maintain syringe-exchange services, educate their clients about safe consumption, and collect aggregated data on participants’ experiences. The sanctioned activities would not be prosecuted by staff or participants.

In a Tuesday press release, the advocacy group VOCAL-NY stated that the Senate had “recognised the dire situation New York finds itself in due to the overdose crisis as well as failed policies from the War on Drugs era.”

The Senate Health Committee declared today, “While @GovKathyHochul refused to lead New York State in this moment of increased overdose deaths,” that it could not wait as New Yorkers continued to die from an overdose. pic.twitter.com/pVG7k0zyor

VOCAL-NY May 23, 2020

The group’s Users Union leaders stated that New York was one step closer to having Overdose Prevention Centers in the entire state. The legislature must keep up the momentum by passing the Safe Consumption Services Act in both houses before the session ends.

The Assembly companion bill, sponsored in part by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D), was approved by the Health Committee of the chamber in March.

New York City opened its first city-authorized sites for safe consumption late in 2021. Officials have stated that these sites have already saved lives.

The American Medical Association published a study last year that found the New York City facility had decreased the overdose risk and discouraged people from using the substance in public. It also provided other ancillary services to those who currently use illicit substances.

Nora Volkow , Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, (NIDA), tacitly supported the idea to authorize safe consumption sites in the past year. She argued that evidence had effectively shown that these facilities could prevent overdose death.

Volkow is known for her harm reduction policies that treat addiction as a public issue. However, it was her comments about the safe injection centers which stood out. This is especially true since the Justice Department has been involved in litigation ever since the Trump administration attacked the opening of a facility in Philadelphia.

Recently, Pennsylvania community groups and Democratic Senators sought to intervene in this case by urging a Federal Court not to approve the harm reduction centres.

Last year, DOJ stated that it was evaluating “supervised consumption sites, including discussions with State and Local Regulators about appropriate guardrails, as part an overall approach to public safety and harm reduction.”

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an application in October 2021 on the legality for the establishment of the Safehouse facilities.

Researchers from the U.S. Congress highlighted “uncertainty”, referring to the position of the federal government regarding safe drug consumption sites. They also suggested that legislators could resolve the issue temporarily by proposing an amendment similar to the one which allowed the implementation of medical marijuana laws without Justice Department interference.

Rahul Gupta is the White House Drug Czar. He has stated that the Biden Administration is reviewing proposals for harm reduction in drug policy, including authorization of supervised consumption centers. In fact, he even suggested possible decriminalization.

In 2021, Rhode Island became first in the U.S. state to legalize the safe drug consumption sites pilot program.

Last year, the Governor of Vermont vetoed two bills that were meant to create a group to develop a plan for opening safe consumption centers . The governor of California also vetoed last year a bill to allow a pilot program to be run for harm reduction centres.