1K Potentially Fatal Overdoses Stopped At Uptown Safe Injection Sites

MANHATTAN — New York City's safe injection sites have reversed a thousand potentially fatal overdoses since opening in November 2021, lawmakers announced Wednesday.

What's more, OnPoint NYC — the overdose prevention centers operating in East Harlem and Washington Heights — have yet to witness a single death, according to Upper West Side Assembly member Linda Rosenthal and Bronx state Sen. Gustavo Rivera.

"We are at a crossroads in our fight against the ever-escalating opioid overdose epidemic," the pair said in a joint statement.

"We hail the milestone of OnPoint NYC's 1000th overdose intervention without a single death, testament to the effectiveness and necessity of these facilities."

Read More: Uptown Injection Sites Have Reversed 314 Overdoses At 6-Month Mark

The two New York City lawmakers, co-sponsors of a bill to streamline safe injection sites opening across the state, argue OnPoint NYC's numbers prove that the centers provide a necessary service amid a opiate addiction crisis worsening every year in New York State.

Opioid overdose deaths in New York increased nearly 70 percent between 2019 and 2021, according to state Comptroller's analysis from 2022.

The study also found deaths increased among all racial and ethnic groups.

"We are losing more New Yorkers than ever to overdose deaths in communities around the state," the lawmakers said, "while substance use disorder is often criminalized and stigmatized instead of being treated as a public health emergency."

The bill passed the Assembly Health committee on March 21 with 14 votes in favor and 11 against, state records show.

OnPoint runs overdose prevention centers in Washington Heights at West 180th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and Harlem on East 126th Street and Park Avenue.

Read More: Head Of Uptown Injection Site Named Among World's 100 Most Influential

While some neighbors have shared anecdotes of deteriorating conditions around the centers — one Harlem dad reported seeing open drug use while taking his daughter to school— others say the resources the centers provide.

Those resources — which include clean needles, tests to check for fentanyl, and Narcan, an overdose-preventing spray — have been championed by New Yorkers such as Mayor Eric Adams and MTA CEO Janno Lieber.

"We strongly believe that New York State must employ evidence-based solutions to address this crisis," Rosenthal and Rivera said.

"We have the tools, we just need the will to bring life-saving measures to New Yorkers who need them."