黑料吃瓜网 lawmakers are revisiting to establish an overdose prevention center pilot program that would make way for supervised drug usage and injection sites for people with substance use disorder.
The was part of a public hearing before the state Public Health Committee Friday. Supervised drug usage sites have been around in the U.S. for several years, .
The spaces provide a place for people with substance use disorder to self-administer controlled substances under the observation of licensed health care professionals.
鈥淥verdose is not a crime, it's a crisis,鈥� said state Sen. Dr. Saud Anwar, co-chair of the Public Health Committee. 鈥淎n individual who is in that moment of that overdose, that's a moment where things are changing rapidly.鈥�
A medical doctor, Anwar talked of the rapid crisis that unfolds moments after an overdose 鈥� breathing could stop in just three to four minutes and the brain cells begin to die. But he said this is also a critical window of opportunity for life-saving intervention.
In 2024, about 1,100 people 鈥渘eeded that lifeline, about 1,200 people in 2023 needed that lifeline,鈥� Anwar said. 鈥淚n 2022 about 1,400 people needed that lifeline, and that lifeline was not there. How long are we going to wait?鈥�
But at supervised sites, medical workers can intervene in an overdose within seconds, according to Livia Cox, founder of the Middletown Harm Reduction Initiative.
鈥淚n 黑料吃瓜网, a person is now more likely to die from an unintentional drug overdose than from a motor vehicle accident,鈥� she said.
鈥楢 place without judgement鈥�
Cox and Anwar were part of a coalition of 黑料吃瓜网 lawmakers, harm reduction experts and grieving family members who gathered in Hartford Friday, urging lawmakers to push the bill through.
They and other advocates said individuals at the supervised centers seek support services over the course of their disorder, including mental health counseling, housing and treatment 鈥� people outside the centers tend to shun seeking services to avoid being stigmatized.
Dita Bhargava, whose son Alec Pelletier died of fentanyl overdose on his 26th birthday in 2018, said fear of stigma prevented him from seeking help. He was at a sober home in Canaan at the time.
鈥淥n that fateful night, Alec felt too ashamed to ask for help, too embarrassed to reach out to those nearby men just outside of his bedroom,鈥� Bhargava said. 鈥淚f he had been in a safe and supportive environment, a place without judgment, he would have been here today.鈥�
Bhargava described her son as 鈥渁 caring, funny, intelligent young man with a promising future as a Triple-A hockey player, who was on his path to recovery, yet he faced overwhelming battles, too often invisible to those around him.鈥�
鈥淎ddiction is a disease that does not discriminate, and it thrives in the shadows of shame and stigma,鈥� she said.
In 2023, 黑料吃瓜网 lawmakers , but that language was dropped from .
After dropping that language, the General Assembly passed a law directing state agencies to create pilot harm reduction centers.
These centers would help people with substance use disorder get medical treatment for an overdose, counseling, and provide test strips.
鈥淭hese are places where the air is clean, and things are calm,鈥� Cox said. They resemble in many ways what you might expect from a drop in center, or a medical facility, and the way people are treated is in accordance with that as well.
Supervised drug-usage sites are already in neighboring New York
In November 2021, opened the country鈥檚 first two supervised drug-injection sites in New York City.
Following the opening of the centers, there was an immediate impact, according to Sam Rivera, executive director at OnPoint NYC.
鈥淲e have a partnership with the park across the street from our site in Washington Heights,鈥� Rivera said. 鈥淚n that park, we were collecting 13,000 syringes a month. A month after we opened, that number went down to 1,000 syringes.鈥�
鈥淚mmediately, the impact was watching 12,000 syringes leave the park and [it] starts to change what that park looks like,鈥� Rivera said. 鈥淭here's a children's playground that's been closed for years because of drug deals. That summer, that park opened again, and I remember taking a step to the window, walking over to the window, we were watching kids playing in the sprinklers.鈥�
黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 Michayla Savitt contributed to this report.
