Res 0313-2024

Whereas, drug overdoses are a major public health crisis in New York City and across the United States, resulting in 2,668 deaths in New York City and over 106,000 throughout the country in 2021; and Whereas, opioid abuse and overdoses are estimated to cost the American economy more than a trillion dollars every year; and Whereas, public health experts have estimated opioid use disorder costs New York State approximately three percent of its GDP; and Whereas, decades of punitive approaches to drug abuse have not meaningfully reduced the phenomenon or compensated for its harms; and Whereas, the city, state, and federal governments have an abiding interest in reducing the harms caused by drug abuse and its attendant cost to public health and safety; and Whereas, supervised consumption sites provide a model for how to reduce likelihood of overdose and connect chronic drug users to health care, counseling and other services; and Whereas, on November 30, 2021, New York City opened two overdose prevention centers, the first government run supervised consumption sites in the country; and Whereas, these sites allowed staff to mitigate hundreds of potential overdoses; and Whereas, more than half of the patrons of these sites utilized additional services; and Whereas, supervised consumption sites exist in a legal grey area thanks to a portion of the federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, known as the "crack house statutes," which attached felony liability to those who maintain a premises for the sake of using controlled substances; and Whereas, the possibility of criminal prosecution discourages public health authorities and nonprofit providers from operating supervised consumption sites despite promising data on their efficacy at reducing overdose deaths and connecting habitual drug users to services; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the United States Congress to pass, and the President to sign, legislation amending the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 to allow for the operation of legitimate supervised consumption sites around the country Session 13 LS #12532 01/18/2024 Session 12 LS #12532 3/15/2023 AY