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 […]
To Jasmine Budnella, director of drug policy at VOCAL-NY, the rhetoric around breaking up supply chains is a repackaging of the same policies that have historically targeted drug users. “The way that Governor Hochul was framing it was like we would go after the Pablo Escobars of the world. But in reality, we know who
NEW YORK FOCUS: HOCHUL QUIETLY BETS ON POLICE TO BATTLE FENTANYL: Read More »
Jasmine Budnella, policy director for the progressive VOCAL-NY, said that she is pleased to see both chambers take some sort of action on the measure, adding the timeline gives advocates more time to mobilize on the issue before the legislative session ends in June. “Given that we’re losing so many people, now is the time
TIMES UNION: LEGISLATURE VOICES SOME SUPPORT FOR OVERDOSE PREVENTION CENTERS: Read More »
“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 »
