First safe sites for drug use approved

NEW YORK — In an attempt to curb a surge in overdose deaths caused by increasingly potent street drugs, New York City will authorize two supervised injection sites in Manhattan to begin operating as soon as Tuesday.

Trained staff at two sites — in the neighborhoods of East Harlem and Washington Heights — will provide clean needles, administer naloxone to reverse overdoses and provide users with options for addiction treatment, city health officials said. Users will bring their own drugs.

New York, the country’s most populous city, will become the first U.S. city to open officially authorized injection sites — facilities that opponents view as magnets for drug abuse but proponents praise as providing a less punitive and more effective approach to addressing addiction.

Other cities including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Seattle have taken steps toward supervised injection but have yet to open sites amid debate over the legal and moral implications of sanctioning illegal drug use.

The two Manhattan sites are already operating as needle exchange programs, and some residents in the communities have already raised concerns about the decision to place them in less affluent areas of the borough.

In an interview, Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, said the city was moving forward to address a public health crisis.

“2020 unfortunately was the deadliest year on record for overdoses both here in New York City as well as nationally. Every four hours, someone dies of a drug overdose in New York City,” he said. “We feel a deep conviction and also sense of urgency in opening overdose prevention centers.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio began championing safe injection sites in 2018, citing their use and success in European and Canadian cities. The decision to officially allow the sites to open comes during the mayor’s last few weeks in office and as he considers a run for governor. He said in a statement that the decision will show other cities that “after decades of failure, a smarter approach is possible.”

The mayor also sent a letter to the providers promising “not to take enforcement action” against their operations and saying that the city has secured the support of law enforcement agencies.

Federal law, however, has yet to catch up. A federal law often referred to as the “crack house statute” makes it illegal to operate, own or rent a location for the purpose of using illegal substances. The Justice Department, under the Trump administration, sued in 2019 to stop a supervised injection facility in Philadelphia from opening.

The Biden administration has embraced harm reduction methods but has not explicitly endorsed supervised injection sites.