Fed prosecutor says NYC safe injection centers are illegal and hints at shutting them down

[Kamaji]

Fed prosecutor says NYC safe injection centers are illegal and hints at shutting them down

By Olivia Land
August 9, 2023

Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor hinted this week at plans to possibly shut down the city’s two safe injection centers, which he said are illegal and “unacceptable” under a longstanding federal law.

“I have repeatedly said that the opioid epidemic is a law enforcement crisis and a public health crisis. But I am an enforcer, not a policymaker,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told The New York Times of the OnPoint NYC overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in East Harlem and Washington Heights.

The OnPoint centers, which opened in November 2021, allow visitors to use illegal drugs like meth and cocaine while supervised by licensed workers in hopes overdoses will be spotted before it’s too late. But some critics say there is no proof they actually work.

Williams said the safe injection centers are “unacceptable” due to the so-called “crack house statute,” a provision of the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act that prohibits individuals or organizations from maintaining a property for the purpose of making, selling, or using a controlled substance.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/08/09/federal-prosecutor-hints-at-shutting-down-nyc-overdose-prevention-centers/