New York City has a solution, but it needs more support.
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 | By Alexandra Sifferlin Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
It's clear that America has lost the war on drugs. The country faces a protracted addiction crisis, and deaths from overdoses are at a record high. What's the solution? |
Jeneen Interlandi, a Times editorial board member, has spent the past year reporting on a lifesaving strategy in New York City. "There is a path out of this quagmire," she writes. |
A group of people who work for OnPoint, a local nonprofit that provides care for people who take drugs, are using an approach called harm reduction. Their focus is on minimizing the consequences of drug use rather than trying to eradicate it. This includes offering people clean needles to prevent disease as well as overdose reversal medications. For the past year the organization has been operating the country's first official supervised consumption site, where people can use the drugs they bring under the oversight of trained staff. |
After spending months following the OnPoint team, Jeneen argues harm reduction needs to be given a real chance — with significant funding and backing — to prevent overdose deaths and keep people healthier with more opportunities for recovery. The Biden administration has allocated funding for harm reduction efforts, but there are major challenges. The organization Jeneen followed is underfunded and its workers stretched thin, and while many New Yorkers support its work, the group faces political headwinds and reasonable concerns from neighbors about discarded needles and nearby drug use. |
Giving harm reduction a fighting chance requires not only political and financial commitment, Jeneen argues, but also a change in how all Americans view people who use drugs. |
As the Times editorial board argues today, "That means accepting that people who use drugs are still members of our communities and are still worthy of compassion and care. It also means acknowledging the needs and wishes of people who don't use drugs, including streets free of syringe litter and neighborhoods free of drug-related crime. These goals are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they go hand in hand." |
 | | Jesus Minier, an OnPoint outreach worker. |
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