Drug-use safe havens now open in NYC

NEW YORK — The first officially authorized safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics have been cleared to open in New York City in hopes of curbing deadly overdoses, officials said Tuesday.

The privately run “overdose prevention centers” provide a monitored place for drug users to partake. Known as supervised injection sites or safer consumption spaces, the facilities also exist in Canada, Australia and Europe and have been discussed for years in New York and some other U.S. cities and states. A few unofficial facilities have operated for some time.

City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said New York’s supervised consumption sites were open as of Tuesday.

Proponents see the facilities as pragmatic, life-saving tools for stopping overdoses, which are claiming a record number of lives in the U.S. and its most populous city.

“I’m proud to show cities in this country that after decades of failure, a smarter approach is possible,” Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Opponents, however, see the sites as moral failures that essentially sanction people harming themselves and create hubs of drug use.

Further, federal law bans operating a place for taking illegal drugs, and the government successfully sued in recent years to block a supervised consumption space in Philadelphia.

The U.S. Justice Department declined Tuesday to comment on New York City’s approach.

The sites don’t sell drugs — users bring their own — but have monitors who watch for signs of overdose and can administer an antidote if needed.