Rethink approach to opioid crisis

It is not news that Connecticut faces an opioid epidemic. In 2021 alone, the state had more than

1,500 overdose deaths, more than 90 percent linked to opioids. This makes it more likely to die from opioids than a car accident. Our state’s rate of overdose is more than 30 percent higher than the national average.

We know that we need a public health response to this crisis. Methadone treatment is certainly a way to help individuals struggling with addiction to lead productive lives. But we as a city, and as a state, need to confront the shared responsibility for this response, the transparency with which we deal with underserved communities, and the years of lessons learned as to what works, and frankly, what does not work.

Unfortunately, some of our New Haven methadone clinics fall into the second category. Most notably is the APT Foundation site on 495 Congress Ave., which is located in a residential neighborhood and directly across from John Daniels School for International Communications, a middle school. Our state has laws about proximity to schools. For instance, you cannot advertise cigarettes within so many feet of a school. You cannot advertise alcohol within so many feet of a school. We have stricter sentencing for drug dealing and drug use in areas close to schools. And we should not have a methdone clinic within 500 feet of a school, particularly one that APT staff and local drug dealers have told me is “the most lenient,” and the “most

There needs to be a coordinated response across the state that is not skewed towards shifting the burden fully to urban centers, and in particular underserved communities.

unstable.”

Let me be clear. This is not about stigmatizing a population of people. This is about what works and what doesn’t. When it comes to public health approaches to the opioid epidemic, it is imperative that our residential neighborhoods be respected. That goes for methadone clinics, as well as as safe-use injection sites, which several sources have told me the city is considering implementing.

When it comes to transparency, the current New Haven administration has utterly failed our community. When APT Foundation purchased a building in Newhallville, in a residential and commercial area, the current mayor said nothing to that community, not even to the alder. This is unacceptable. Our communities are tired of being treated with no respect. That is why I am also calling for APT to sell the Dixwell Avenue building, and stop its plan of expanding into yet another underserved residential community.

I also call on the mayor to reveal to the public what is being considered for safe-use injection sites. What organizations have they approached? What sites are being considered? This community has a right to know.

I also want to acknowledge what does work. APT Foundation, this same organization, operates sites without quality-of-life issues on LongWharf, inWest Haven, and North Haven. The difference is location and management. These sites are for the most part industrially zoned, not leaving an opportunity for drug dealers to loiter and prey upon the clients. That is why I am calling for our city to pass appropriate zoning for methadone clinics and safe-use injection sites — and that they be zoned for industrial areas.

Lastly, I want to call on our state legislators to hold a public hearing on this issue. The opioid epidemic is a shared responsibility, and residents of other towns are just as likely to overdose as New Haven residents. In fact, although official demographics of APT’s clients are unavailable, both clients and law enforcement officers estimate that half or more of APT’s clients are not New Haven residents.

There needs to be a coordinated response across the state that is not skewed towards shifting the burden fully to urban centers, and in particular underserved communities. I call on our Public Health Committee to come to New Haven and hold a public hearing to hear what our residents are saying. We need change. We need transparency. And we need respect for our community. That is why I’m running for mayor.