Over 100,000 Americans now die from drug overdoses annually. To combat this crisis in New York City and save lives, Mayor Bill de Blasio decided to support an initiative rife with controversy: In November 2021, his government allowed OnPoint, a nonprofit, to open two overdose prevention centers, where people with addictions can inject or smoke drugs like opioids and stimulants under medical supervision to reduce the risk of overdose death. Upon taking office, Mayor Eric Adams, Mr. de Blasio’s successor, has continued to support the sites’ work.

Some neighbors, politicians and media have claimed that the centers — one in East Harlem and one in Washington Heights — are increasing crime and public drug use in neighborhoods already burdened with poverty.

But an important new study published this week refutes these claims. It shows that violent and property crime rates near the two overdose prevention centers (sometimes referred to as safe injection or safe consumption sites) did not increase any more than crime in similar neighborhoods elsewhere in the city. This was in spite of the fact that the police conducted 83 percent fewer drug arrests near the sites (likely to avoid deterring people with addiction from using them) compared with other harm reduction sites that did not offer safe injection.

“We did not observe any increase in crime or disorder or any of the things that people worry about when they see an overdose prevention site opening,” said a study co-author, Brandon Del Pozo, an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University and a former New York Police Department precinct commander and police chief of Burlington, Vt.

Previous research has consistently shown that harm reduction approaches that prioritize public health over drug-law enforcement do not worsen neighborhoods or increase crime rates. And most of all, these policies don’t lead to higher drug use among youth or people who are already addicted, and can increase the likelihood that they enter treatment. At least 200 such centers now exist in over a dozen countries around the world, with millions of injections recorded for several decades and not a single reported death inside a facility. The New York sites have been utilized over 90,000 times by around 4,000 people, with 1,100 overdoses reversed and no deaths.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/opinion/safe-injection-sites-crime.html