Right now, the impact of the city law remains unclear due to a lack of data to analyze yet, according to VOCAL-NY’s Keli Young, the police reform group’s civil rights campaign coordinator. However, New York’s proposal would go further than the city’s law, and even those in Colorado and New Mexico. Unlike in those instances, […]
On January 25, the harm reduction organization VOCAL-NY is holding an advocacy day in Albany, urging the passage of Daniel’s Law “to end the criminalization of mental illness and substance use disorder, especially in Black and brown communities.” Daniel’s Law would create a statewide council and numerous smaller regional or local councils, responsible for setting up “emergency and crisis
FILTER MAGAZINE: HOW “DANIEL’S LAW” COULD TRANSFORM NY MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSE: Read More »
Celina Trowell, a homelessness organizer with VOCAL-NY, said the CityFHEPS program is “one of the most successful tools that we have in the city to try and get people out of shelters into permanent safe housing.” Trowell flagged issues and shortcomings, ranging from administrative flaws and errors when processing CityFHEPS applications, structural barriers, and long delays that
“The Governor’s answer to the worst overdose crisis in New York’s history is to increase penalties for fentanyl and drug-induced homicide laws that only advance the War on Drugs, rather than the fight to save lives,” said Jawanza Williams, director of organizing for VOCAL-NY, an advocacy group. “Most egregious of all: Hochul’s complete omission of
GOTHAM GAZETTE: What Wasn’t in Hochul’s 2023 State of the State Agenda: Read More »
Jasmine Budnella, the director of policy for VOCAL-NY, a drug-user advocacy group, applauded the investment in drug-checking technology and pointed to its pilot use at New York City’s two safe injection sites, also referred to as overdose prevention centers, where staff have been utilizing drug-checking technology to screen users’ samples. Advocates are still disappointed in
TIMES UNION: Cautious policies for opioid crisis miss the mark, advocates say: Read More »
Last year, a state panel tasked with determining how to spend over $2 billion in settlement funds from drug companies that had a role in the addiction crisis recommended that some of that money should fund the supervised injection sites. But the governor’s administration rejected that proposal. State Office of Addiction Services and Support Commissioner Chinazo
CITY & STATE: Will hochul come around on supervised injection sites?: Read More »
NEW YORK CITY — The true scope of New York City’s fatal overdose problem for the past two years remains unknown because city officials have dragged their feet on the literal life-and-death data, advocates charged. The city needs to release fatal overdose numbers from three months of 2021 and all of 2022, advocates with VOCAL-NY
PATCH: NYC Stalls Vital OD Data, Puts Safe Injection Sites At Risk: Read More »
New York’s $2.5 billion in opioid settlement money is no “windfall.” It’s not something that happened to drop in our laps by happy accident. That money was earned through human misery. The funds were handed over by opioid manufacturers and distributors who profited from others’ addiction, but they’re not the ones who paid. The price
TIMES UNION: EDITORIAL: ACTION ON OPIODS Read More »
Just over a year after New York City led the nation in establishing two overdose prevention centers to serve people at risk of falling to a continuing epidemic of opioid abuse, not only have no additional facilities opened, the existing ones are now at risk of closing. The centers, run by nonprofit OnPoint, could run out
New york daily news: No Harm done: overdose prevention centers must stay open Read More »
The state’s top court has been highly criticized in recent years as a quartet of conservative-leaning judges led by DiFiore dominated decisions from the seven-member panel. “New Yorkers have been promised a break from the past administration, but Hector LaSalle’s background suggests that he would instead continue this tradition of Cuomoism to the detriment of
