“People who are too afraid of the science are the ones standing between them and the science that can save their lives”. “That person has the potential to recover whether they’ve been using for a week or for 20 years. We can’t wait any longer”. “Over the course of the last two years, we compiled what people suggested”, he says.
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“Police officers were more active in Seattle because they knew there was an option to bring people in and get them help”, he said. Nurses or physicians could quickly administer an antidote if a user overdoses, while addicts also could get clean syringes and be directed to treatment and recovery programs, he said. “I think we’re in a similar state of emergency”. It hits close to home for me and for people that I know.
Consider a Supervised Injection Facility: Supervised injection facilities (SIFs) are controlled health care settings where people can more safely inject drugs under clinical supervision and receive health care, counseling, and referrals to health and social services, including drug treatment.
“Policymakers from across the political spectrum have joined law enforcement leaders to declare that we can not arrest our way out of the drug problem”, The Ithaca Plan states. But Myrick sees an opening now in response to huge increases in overdose deaths nationwide.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The mayor’s plan would need to be approved by the state government.
“That person has family and friends and potential”, Myrick said.
Ithaca Police Chief John Barber said he’s in support of the Ithaca Plan as a whole, but he can’t get behind the supervised injection site although he realizes the city needs to look at the heroin epidemic from all angles. “Nobody uses heroin because needles are available”. “What it would do is make it less likely that people will die in restaurant bathrooms”.
“We have those who are choosing to use drugs, regardless of the policing”, said Sgt. Randy Fincham of the Vancouver Police Department during a phone interview with the Ithaca Voice.
Canada’s Insite facility also has been criticized.
“Right now heroin is considered an illegal substance under the law and I can not condone any behavior related to the use of heroin, whether it’s supervised or not”, Barber told the Ithaca Journal. The first site to open in North America was in 2003 in Vancouver, Canada.
“These overdoses are completely reversible”, Daly said. People around the country are saying they want a new approach.
Insite receives most of its funding from government now, but faced significant initial opposition from officials in Ottawa. In September 2011, judges at the Canadian Supreme Court ruled in favor of keeping Insite open against his wishes.
The United States is struggling to stem a surge in abuse of heroin and other opioid drugs, including prescription painkillers.
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“I had a friend who lost her daughter to heroin”. “It’s misguided. The addict is going to say: this is cool, a place I don’t have to worry about the cops”. “We do not have a worse problem than any other community”.
