The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Dear Governor Hochul,
Welcome to your new office - we are excited to work with your administration to promote the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers. We, the undersigned groups, urge you to use your new office to act quickly to save lives: authorize the Overdose Prevention Center pilot program now.
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the already numerous inequalities impacting the most marginalized New Yorkers - the factors leading to preventable overdose deaths are no exception. Recent CDC data shows that over 93,000 people in the United States lost their lives to drug overdose in 2020 - an increase of over 21,000 people (nearly 30 percent) from 2019.
We value the fact that overdose policy has been a deep part of your work and personal life and appreciate much-needed increases in public spending and education around treatment. But throughout the pandemic, roughly 5,100 New Yorkers statewide died of overdoses. No more. The disruption to daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic has hit people who use drugs hard, increasing isolation and despair and disconnecting people from healthcare, supportive services and community. As you turn your attention to ensuring New Yorkers get the resources they need during this pandemic and beyond, we urge you to prioritize harm reduction in your public health efforts.
Housing Works and the undersigned organizations’ harm reduction services and advocacy follows the National Harm Reduction Coalition’s principles, where harm reduction understands drug use as a complex, multi-faceted continuum of behaviors. It recognizes that the realities of poverty, racism, classism, trauma, isolation, and other inequalities affect individuals' vulnerability to and capacity for effectively dealing with drug-related harms. We also believe in providing nonjudgmental, non-coercive services and resources to New Yorkers who use drugs and work to minimize harm and prevent overdose.
A proposed pilot project would authorize five existing community-based Syringe Exchange Programs (four in New York City and one in Ithaca) to expand their services to include supervised consumption services (also known as Overdose Prevention Centers). OPCs are safe, clean spaces where individuals can safely inject or otherwise use their pre-obtained drugs with sterile equipment while also gaining access, onsite or by referral, to routine health, mental health, drug treatment and other social services. This pilot would be regulated and supervised by the NYS Department of Health’s AIDS Institute with rigorous evaluation by NYU researchers.
As Governor, you have the authority to direct the Commissioner of Health to authorize this pilot program, without any action by the legislature. The NYS Constitution provides that “[t]he protection and promotion of the health of the inhabitants of the state are matters of public concern and provision therefore shall be made by the state and by such of its subdivisions”. Specifically, New York’s Public Health Law provides that the DOH Commissioner’s responsibilities include “tak[ing] cognizance of the interests of health and life of the people of the state, and of all matters pertaining thereto...investigat[ing] the causes of disease, epidemics, the sources of mortality, and the effect of localities, employments and other conditions, upon the public health [and] obtain[ing], collect[ing] and preserv[ing] such information relating to … mortality, disease and health as may be useful in the discharge of his duties or may contribute to the promotion of health or the security of life in the state.” Additionally, “whenever required by the governor, the [C]ommissioner shall make an examination concerning nuisances or questions affecting the security of life and health in any locality...” Analysis by the law firm Ropes and Gray supports the conclusion that the OPC pilot program’s research functions and benefits would fall under these executive and commissioner powers and responsibilities.
Overdose is a wholly preventable cause of death. There are more than 100 overdose prevention centers (also known as safe or supervised injection facilities) in countries outside of the United States as of 2018. Overdose prevention centers have already been authorized in Rhode Island and we look forward to their launch soon. Here in New York, the pilots have the support of both New York City’s Mayor de Blasio and Ithaca’s Mayor Myrick. Overdose prevention is also a key point of NYS’s historic 2014 Ending the Epidemic Task Force Blueprint for ending our State’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. And as recently as 2018, Governor Cuomo himself promised advocates that he would direct Commissioner Zucker to authorize the NYS pilot program following that year’s election, but subsequently cut off all communication about the matter. In the interim, thousands more New Yorkers died of preventable drug overdose.
Former Governor Cuomo lied. Governor Hochul, we want you to honor the State’s promise. In your first days in office and ahead of August 31st’s International Overdose Awareness Day, please authorize this pilot program and help us launch the Overdose Prevention Center pilot sites in New York. Help New York State move past the stigma and fear of those in power and provide real, life-saving services to the people we care for who use drugs and deserve to live a full and healthy life.
1. Housing Works
2. Treatment Action Group
3. National Working Positive Coalition
4. Commission on the Public’s Health System
5. Community Health Action of Staten Island
6. Legal Action Center
7. St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction
8. Progressive Doctors
9. Harlem United
10. VOCAL-NY
11. Unity Fellowship of Christ NYC
12. Exponents
13. New York State Harm Reduction Association
14. Healthcare Equity Action League of NY - HEAL NY
15. Latino Commission on AIDS
16. Hispanic Health Network
17. In Our Own Voices, Inc.
18. Westchester Citizen Therapists
19. Central Texas Harm Reduction
20. The Southern Tier AIDS Program
21. Michael Galipeau Consulting
22. Evergreen Health
23. Boom! Health
24. NC Survivors Union and Urban Survivors Union
25. Trystereo Collective/New Orleans Harm Reduction Network
26. Indiana Recovery Alliance
27. Alliance for Positive Change
28. North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition
29. Albany Damien Center
30. GMHC
31. The Life Process Program
32. P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now)
33. Sobriety Together
34. High Impact Strategies
35. Brooklyn Community Pride Center
36. The Illuminator Collective
37. North Brooklyn Mutual Aid / NBK Essentials
38. NO OD NY
39. Minneapolis Students for Sensible Drug Policy
40. Center for Optimal Living
41. NYS Recovery PAC
42. Henry Street Settlement
43. The Levenson Foundation
44. Callen-Lorde
45. Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County
46. Students for Sensible Drug Policy
47. Bailey House
48. Toronto Harm Reduction Alliance (THRA)
49. The Campaign for NY Health
50. New York Diabetes Alliance
51. Peer Network Of New York
52. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY)
53. Physicians for a National Health Program - NY Metro
54. Center for Popular Democracy
55. Center for Motivation and Change
56. New York Doctors
57. NEXT Distro
58. Amida Care
59. Supplies for Life
60. Samadhi Recovery Community Outreach Center
61. The Midtown South Community Council
Individuals:
- Mark Misrok
- Jim Eigo
- Anthony Feliciano
- Yarelix Estrada
- Anne Mitchell
- Tracie Gardner
- Chloe Winther
- Diane Arneth
- Joyce Rivera
- Eric Sawyer
- Andrew Goldstein, Assistant Professor, NYU School of Medicine
- Anne Lifflander, MD, MPH
- Carol Kessler, Reverend and MD
- Lipi Roy, Addiction Medicine Physician, Medical Director
- Sophia Ebel, MD
- Deborah Socolar, MPH
- Muoar Deaen
- Irene S Miller, LCSW
- Marc Shi, Physician
- Reginald Brown
- Ellen Tattelman, MD
- John Welch, LCSW
- Daniel Lugassy, Physician
- David C Perlman, MD
- Kaitlin Abrams
- Breanna Keepers, MD
- Oliver Fein, MD
- Chiya Ikemi
- Debra Lavin, Psychologist
- Halie Pratt
- Morgan Moore
- Noa Krawczyk, Assistant Professor, NYU School of Medicine
- Elizabeth Rosenthal, MD
- Tulay Aksoy, Medical Director
- Giliane Joseph, MD
- Mariya Masyukova, MD, MS
- Iman Hassan, Attending Physician
- Roshan Bransden, Resident, DFSM
- Joel Bumol, MD
- Shannon McNamara, MD
- Laila Khalid, Associate Professor of Medicine
- Matthew Holm, MD
- Lauren Shapiro, Associate Professor of Medicine
- Jonathan Alpert, Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
- Tanya White-Davis
- Jaquelyn Jahn, PhD, MPH
- Dr. Lisa Baron
- Seth Congdon, MD
- Chanelle Diaz, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine
- Andrea Jakubowski, MD
- Dr. Andrew Tatarsky
- Naomi Harris Tolson
- Drew Haste
- Dr. David Gottlieb
- LaShondra Jones
- Jyothsna Karlapalem, MD, Medical Director
- Susanna Mahoney
- Lyne Jean-Louis, RN
- Michael DiFrancesca
- Bethany Davison
- Shwetha Iyer, MD
- Eddie Lacend
- Rachel Clark, MD
- Alexander Azan, MD
- Laura Landau
- Richard Bradshaw
- Jeremy Ziring, MD
- Sophia Reinicke
- Michael Galipeau
- Lindsay Hayden, LMHC, Psychotherapist
- David Herzberg
- Lauren A. Hoffman, PhD, Research Fellow
- Van Asher
- Lee Isaacsohn, MD
- Courtney Hayes
- Khristopher Decker
- Caroline Hugh, MPH
- George Santana
- Liz Rivera Belinda Kotin, Psychiatric Nurse
- Amy Colley, Addiction Psychologist
- Archie Jao, MD, Medical Director
- Imanni Mebane
- Caragh Corsi
- Louise Vincent
- Dr. James Powers, DACM
- William Matthews, Physician Assistant
- Kapil Nayar Musaub Khan, MD
- Craig Sloane, LCSW
- Nicholas Voyles
- Melissa Bhikham, Physician
- Dr. Margery Frosch, PhD
- Brealyn Sellers, MD
- Brooke Brailey
- Paula Lamanna, LCSW, CASAC
- Jesse Bennett
- Pamela Jones, Clinical Psychologist
- Thomas Dybek
- Perry Junjulas
- Joanna Starrels, Addiction Medicine Physician
- Leah Danze, Psychotherapist/Art Therapist
- Jessica Saeman, CASAC-T, CRPA-P
- Jason Cianciotto
- Jason Holloway, PsyD
- Julian Ho
- Rubayat Qadeer, Physician
- Reilly Glasgow
- Danielle C. Ompad, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology
- Dr. Mary Kelly
- Katherine DeGregorio, Nurse Practitioner
- Elizabeth Kandall
- Jasmine Myrick, Research Assistant
- Cherie Byrd
- Michael Morrison, LCSW
- Charley Wininger, LP, LMHC
- Erin Goss, MD
- Anne Earle, LMSW, CARC
- Ashly Jordan, PhD
- Vincent Vaccaro, PhD
- Ruth Riddick
- JD Davids
- Benjamin Riker
- Sumeet Singh-Tan, Physician
- Trevoy Ross
- Elizabeth Williams, Social Worker
- Billie Tyler, BSN, RN
- Benjamin Adam
- Jessica Estrella
- Ryan Thoresen Carson
- Rory O’Brien
- Morgan Geiger, RN
- Sandhya Kumar, MD MPH
- Elaine Seitz, Clinical Professor
- Kate Sullivan
- Terri Wilder
- Rachel Niesen, Addiction and Mental Health Therapist
- Daniel Pomerantz
- Amrita Seehra, MD
- Irfan Azam, MD, Homeless Healthcare Fellow
- Olivia Moscicki
- Nancy Sanon, FNP
- Aviva Epstein, RPA-C
- Ben Levenson
- Noah Berland, MD
- Anna Guirguis, Director of Clinical Services
- Steven Cobb
- Rob Hofmann
- Carolina Miranda, MD
- Tarlise Townsend, Postdoctoral Fellow
- Rose Pacheco
- Rex Tai, MD
- Brett Wolfson-Stofko, PhD
- Amy Edminster, LCSW
- YuLing Koh Hsu
- Carolyn Sartor, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Psychiatry
- Marilyn Gentile
- Thérèse McHale, MSW and person in recovery from opioid addiction
- Karlynn Holland
- Marilyn Reyes
- Caroline Davidson
- Marissa DeJoy
- Robin Kerner, Psychologist
- Jacob Tempchin, Senior Research Assistant in Alcohol Harm Prevention
- Linda Moynihan
- Meghan Hetfield
- Sean Jones
- Diane O'Cameron
- Joe Ruggiero
- Michael Erwin
- Nancy Quinn
- George Carter
- Oladimeji Oki, MD
- Jessica Ho, MPH
- Elizabeth Copulsky
- Kristine Torres-Lockhart, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine
- Keri Kramer
- Lisa Bennett
- Michael Erwin
- Betty Kolod, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Environmental Medicine and Public Health
- Maureen Miller, MD, MPH
- Larissa J. Maier, PhD
- Ashley Castillo
- Patrick Haenlein, MD
- Rhonda Usyk
- Janice Lynch
- Danielle Williams
- Judy Moffitt
- Monica Pugliese
- Jen Cutting
- David McNamara
- Brendan Jacka
- John Mudd
- Sincere Amor Boykin
- Sandra France
- Liz Whipple
- Winn Periyasamy
cc: NYS Health Commissioner Dr. Howard A. Zucker
