Drug Injection Site Will Open In Midtown, Mayor Says

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A supervised drug injection site will open in West Midtown as part of a plan to cut the number of drug overdose deaths in New York City, city officials announced this week. In a long-awaited report published Thursday, the Department of Health said the sites could stop up to 130 overdose deaths and save up to $7 million in public health costs annually.

The exact location of the Midtown injection site was not revealed, but city officials did say the sites will be opened by facilities with existing "needle exchange" programs. Nonprofit groups, not the city, would reportedly operate and fund them.

De Blasio's support for injection sites, which have been established in other countries but are not yet open in the United States, comes after an aggressive push from advocates who have waited months for the mayor to take a position on the issue.

"After a rigorous review of similar efforts across the world, and after careful consideration of public health and safety expert views, we believe overdose prevention centers will save lives and get more New Yorkers into the treatment they need to beat this deadly addiction," de Blasio said in a tweet Thursday.

Each site will have staff on hand to stop overdoses with medication such as naloxone, as well as social workers who could help guide users into addiction treatment programs, according to The New York Times.

The sites would reportedly start running after a six- to 12-month outreach process in the communities that would host them. The city will only open them if they're approved by the state Department of Health, each borough's district attorney and the local City Council representative, de Blasio said.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who represents Hell's Kitchen and parts of Midtown, praised the decision Friday.

"The Council has been a leader in the push to bring these centers to New York City, and we thank Mayor de Blasio for taking this brave, important and necessary step. Too many people have died from opioids and heroin. These sites will save lives and connect addicts with treatment options and trained professionals that could lead them to recovery," Johnson said in a statement.

The Midtown facility will be one of four injection sites opening in New York City as part of de Blasio's plan. The other sites will open in Washington Heights, Park Slope in Brooklyn and Longwood in the Bronx.

The plan does not include a site on Staten Island, which has seen the highest overdose rate in the city.

The mayor's office did not freely distribute details of the plan in a press release despite the fact that it ends one stage of a heated debate and could put New York City on the vanguard of U.S. drug treatment policy.

Supporters see injection sites as important tools in the fight against the opioid overdose epidemic. The city saw 1,441 overdose deaths last year, a record high that marks a 166-percent increase from 2010, according to the city Department of Health report. Opioids were involved in more than 80 percent of those deaths.

Advocates argue the sites would give addicts a safe place to inject drugs and access medical treatment, offering an alternative to the public bathrooms, parks and stairwells that many turn to now.

Seattle, San Francisco and Philadelphia have taken steps toward opening supervised injection facilities, though none are operational yet. But sites in Canada and Europe have proven effective at preventing fatal overdoses, de Blasio said.

The plan would have to clear big legal hurdles. Chief among them is a federal law known as the "crack house statute" that bans organizations from openly facilitating illegal drug use, according to the Department of Health report, which was commissioned in 2016.

It's unclear how federal authorities might react to the existence of the injection sites, but their staff and clients could face arrest and prosecution, the report says. Legislation or administrative authorization from state officials could offer a degree of legal safety, according to the report.

Locally, de Blasio pledged to work with the NYPD to ensure the centers are kept "safe" and "orderly." "We will not tolerate anything less," he said.

Advocates have recently blasted de Blasio, a Democrat, for taking so long to support injection sites. Eleven people, including City Councilman Stephen Levin, were arrested at a Wednesday protest about the issue.

Patch editor Noah Manskar contributed to this report.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images