WHY? –
Aug. 8, 2023 – As street drugs have become ever more powerful and deadly, a small nonprofit in Manhattan dedicated to preventing overdoses has drawn politicians and health officials from around the country searching for possible solutions to the opioid epidemic.
But now, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor is warning that the group’s methods are illegal, and is suggesting that his office could crack down — and perhaps even end the effort.
The group’s strategy — known as supervised consumption — is simple, but radical: Let people use illicit drugs at special centers, under the watchful eye of nonprofit workers who can intervene if something goes wrong. The group, OnPoint NYC, said on Tuesday that its two overdose prevention centers have reversed 1,000 overdoses since they opened more than a year and a half ago, at a time when the drug supply contains the dangerous opioid fentanyl in growing concentrations.
The centers, in East Harlem and Washington Heights, were authorized by City Hall in 2021.
