New laws vs. opioids ‘personal’ for gov
ALBANY — Gov. Hochul signed a package of legislation on Thursday aimed at addressing the opioid crisis, a fight with personal significance for the governor.
Measures enacted into law will decriminalize the possession and sale of hypodermic needles and syringes, establish a program for medication-based addiction treatment in state and local prisons and create an online directory for distributors of medications that can reverse opioid overdoses.
Hochul praised lawmakers for passing the package of five bills as she spoke of the death of her nephew Michael, who died from an overdose after injecting opiates laced with fentanyl six years ago.
“This is personal to me,” she said during an event at John Jay College in Manhattan. “He did not set out to be a teenage addict, that was not his goal in life.
“I don’t want other families to endure this... there’s no reason to point fingers or to blame or to find a cause, we just deal with what we’re dealing with right here and right now,” she added.
One of the bills signed into law will require jails across the state to implement Medication-Assisted Treatment, which would see facilities provide addicted inmates medication as part of their treatment.
“Why wouldn’t we take advantage of that opportunity, to invest in people, give them something as simple as medication to help them deal with their illness while they’re incarcerated, just like we’d make sure they have their diabetes drugs or their cancer drugs,” Hochul said. “What we’re trying to do is remove barriers to treatment.”
Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), the sponsor of the bill, said the measure will “save lives and ease pain. It will also reduce recidivism and make prisons and jails safer for all.”
Another piece of legislation signed on Thursday will decriminalize the possession of so-called opioid antagonists like naloxone.
The new laws come as Attorney General Letitia James, a potential Democratic primary rival for Hochul, has toured the state in recent days, distributing millions to counties from large settlements with drug manufacturers and distributors.
Advocates applauded the governor for taking action on the bills and expressed hope that more actions are in the works to address inequality and other aspects of the crisis.
“As people who have experienced torturous withdrawal inside jails and prisons, and have been arrested for syringe possession -- we are elated that Gov. Hochul has taken this necessary step towards ending the overdose crisis,” VOCAL-NY said in a statement.