Officials are asking for Governor Cuomo to open overdose prevention centers in the state that would give people who use drugs a safe place to do so while simultaneously preventing deaths.
With overdoses becoming more common in Buffalo, adv advocates in favor of the centers say these ones would not enable drug use but lead addicts to safe recovery.
Ryan Thorsen Carson walked across the state to promote the creation of the centers and finished in Buffalo on Friday. He’s lost two friends to overdoses.
Thorsen Carson said people are going to use heroin regardless, and with the centers the number of overdoses can at least be lowered.
The centers would offer far more, including access to medical care, temporary housing, social workers and rehabilitation treatment if they want it.
A pilot program was approved before being stopped in 2017.
With overdoses up to 57% since the pandemic in Erie County, the hope is that a center like this will start to help lower the numbers.
Ivette Chavez Gonzalez was part of a syringe exchange program which led her to quit drugs and get clean, showing programs like these work for far more than enabling someone to use drugs.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]