For the majority of my life, from Buffalo to Brooklyn, I’ve been walking over dead bodies. Every day, 17 New Yorkers are lost to the same crisis: preventable overdose. Each person we lose has their own story, their own loved ones and their own past. But until New York State takes action to combat these preventable deaths, I fear they will all just become more statistics.

I’ve seen people die in cold places alone because they had nowhere else to safely use, and it breaks my heart. What’s worse, the proven solutions that meet people where they’re at are right in front of us – New York just lacks the political courage to take action. I’ve seen firsthand how extensive the overdose crisis here is in my area. No community is immune to our overdose crisis, and we need our state leaders to pass legislation that authorize overdose prevention centers across the entire state, as soon as possible.

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