GOVERNOR HOCHUL: IT’S TIME TO DECLARE AN OVERDOSE EMERGENCY
Last year more than 5,700 New York State residents died from a drug overdose, a 15 percent increase over the year before. And with an average of one fatal overdose every 5 hours in New York City alone, there’s no sign of a slowdown in 2022. Yet even as the death toll continues to climb, Governor Kathy Hochul has so far not declared a state disaster emergency for the addiction and overdose epidemic—as she recently did for the monkeypox virus outbreak. An emergency declaration from the governor concerning overdoses—which have been growing steadily over the past decade, both here and across the country, and surging over the past few years—would allow the state to mobilize resources and personnel and raise public awareness.
There are other measures the governor can take as well. First, she should appoint a “drug czar” for New York State to oversee and coordinate all agencies that are responsible for healthcare, addiction, overdose prevention, and other social services associated with substance abuse. Much like the federal drug czar, who is responsible for national programs and reports to the White House, an Albany-based position would ensure that state efforts are having the desired impact, funds are reaching all communities in need, and that a data-driven initiative is introduced to track and map the state’s overdose response system.
To accomplish this, we urge the governor to work with state agencies to distribute as soon as possible the expected $208 million from opioid litigation settlements to treatment and other service providers. The money, along with federal block grants, represents a significant boost in funding levels that were frozen or reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds are badly needed to expand overall treatment capacity—especially in rural areas of the state, where services are generally lacking—but also to recruit, train, and retain staff. In particular, we need more residential treatment facilities and programs to both increase the ranks of peer counselors who work directly with substance users and provide a strong support system to help in recovery.
Most of all, Governor Hochul must lay out a multifaceted drug-control policy. She has already begun doing this by endorsing harm reduction as a focus of state efforts, allocating more funding to substance use and prevention organizations, and removing barriers to addiction treatment. And beyond harm reduction—which by itself is not a solution—much more can and should be done. As author Beth Macy pointed out in a New York Times commentary, “harm reduction isn’t harm eradication.” Although strategies such as safe sites, drug testing strips, and overdose reversal medications do save lives, our goal instead should be to ultimately change lives.
Harm reduction must therefore be coupled with safe and effective treatment programs that we know work, and are made readily available to anyone who wants it, on an on-demand basis. Declaring an addiction and overdose emergency would be an important step to reaching this goal—and giving thousands of New Yorkers a better chance to lead a drug-free life.
