NHRC stands in solidarity with OnPoint NYC’s life-saving overdose prevention centers
The data is clear: Overdose prevention centers (OPCs), like the operation run by OnPoint NYC, save lives – and so much more. Despite this, threats to these services that keep people alive have grown louder, potentially forcing the closure of OnPoint NYC’s doors.
NHRC’s Acting Executive Director, Laura Guzman, said, “NHRC condemns the U.S. attorney’s efforts to close OnPoint’s overdose prevention centers because our Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities in New York are dying by the thousands, and these centers must be protected for our people to stay alive and have their basic needs met. Federal, state, and local governments in New York, San Francisco, and throughout the U.S. are using dangerous, misleading language that distorts this life-saving work, and insinuating we need a law enforcement approach to the overdose epidemic is senseless, politically motivated, and it must stop. A public health and human rights approach is sorely needed and we stand in strong solidarity with OnPoint, their staff, and community, and urge all elected officials to stop any closure or challenges to their critically needed operations.”
NHRC’s Community and Capacity Building Manager, Hiawatha Collins, said, “This is a public health issue. Thousands of folks are dying, and each of these deaths is preventable. The so-called “War on Drugs” in the U.S., more accurately named a “War on People,” has never worked and has cost us countless lives. The longer racist policies disproportionately impacting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals are enacted, preventing life-saving services from happening, the more people will die – their lives stolen from inaction and lack of access to crucial health support.”
To read the full story about the battle to keep saving lives in NYC, click the New York Times story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/08/nyregion/drug-overdoses-supervised-consumption-nyc.html