New York Authorizes Safe Injection Sites For Drug Users, 1st In The Nation

NEW YORK (WENY) – New York City is now home to the nation’s first supervised injection site in an aim to help curb overdose deaths.

Two “Overdose Prevention Centers” were opened up Tuesday. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says the locations have existing syringe service providers and are safe places where people who use drugs have access to medical care, treatment and social services.

In New York City, opioid overdoses cost the health care system around $50 million a year with a study finding that just one of the new facilities could save an extra million in that time.

This comes as the opioid epidemic has been a crisis in the U.S. for years.

During the pandemic in 2020, an estimated 100,000 people nationwide died of a drug overdose, which is the most ever recorded in a single year for the country.

Experts say overdose deaths in the U.S. now surpass deaths from car accidents, guns, the flu and pneumonia.