New York State offers a model for addressing the addiction and overdose epidemics
Faced with surging rates of addiction and overdose fatalities, more and more states are preparing new strategies to deal with this crisis—and New York, in particular, is moving in the right direction. A comprehensive package of programs and initiatives aims to reduce overdose deaths—there’s one every four hours in New York City alone—and expand access to treatment as well as a full range of recovery services. After pandemic-related cutbacks, states are gearing up to take action backed by new federal outlays and payments from opioid litigation settlements that are mandated for drug prevention, education, and treatment over the next two decades.
New York’s two-pronged approach includes harm reduction on the front lines of the epidemic—including overdose-prevention facilities such as safe syringe sites—and making it easier to obtain substance use medications and treatment, as well as recovery-treatment centers for individuals facing a crisis. For example, mobile methadone vans will be deployed in cities, while those in rural areas, who are often overlooked when it comes to accessing treatment, will benefit from a regional transportation system. At the same time, New York will expand medication-assisted treatment—and equally important, long-term residential treatment capacities. And it will also launch programs to secure housing and employment as part of a continuum of care with a vital support network for individuals to ease their reintegration into society.
It is important to remember however that harm reduction alone cannot end this crisis. Testing street drugs for safety and having trained medical personnel on hand to administer overdose reversal medications are critical, as we have seen in the first safe syringe sites in the U.S. that opened last year in New York City. But the question remains, what will happen to these people after we’ve reduced the harm they’ve experienced yet failed to offer a bridge to treatment?
To be most effective, there must be a direct link between life-saving harm reduction efforts and life-changing drug treatment. Both state and federal programs must therefore ensure that treatment is the cornerstone of anti-drug efforts. By focusing on treatment and ensuring everyone who requires it has access—regardless of income level, insurance status, or where they live—New York offers a model for other states to follow to confront this unprecedented public health crisis.
