Bronx based nonprofits joined dozens of other community-based organizations and justice advocacy groups in sounding the alarm about efforts to “ramp up” drug criminalization at the state level.
BronxWorks and St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction signed a letter Thursday calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to reject budget proposals and bills that would make it easier to punish New Yorkers who use illegal drugs.
The proposals included expanding the state’s list of controlled substances; permitting cops to use the smell of cannabis as probable cause; expanding the definition of “drugged driving” to include all mind altering substances; and expanding involuntary psychiatric hospitalization and forced treatment.
“These proposals are certain to increase criminalization, incentivize a more potent and unpredictable drug supply, exacerbate overdose deaths and public suffering, and impose barriers to care disproportionately for Black and brown communities that bear the brunt of the overdose crisis,” the letter, drafted by Legal Action Center, VOCAL-NY, and the Drug Policy Alliance said.
The letter warned that the expansion would concentrate drug enforcement in already underserved neighborhoods with Black and Brown New Yorkers, and predicted that it would lead to unequal policing. The Bronx has the highest proportion of both Black and Hispanic New Yorkers at 28.2% and 56.6% respectively, according to the NYU Furman Center.
Both BronxWorks and St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction (SACHR) offer harm reduction and health care services to people who use drugs in the Bronx, which also has the highest rate of opioid-related fatalities in the city, according to the State Department of Health.
They joined the dozens of organizations that called on Hochul to instead prioritize community-based healthcare solutions over expanding the criminalization of drug use.
The coalition of community nonprofits and justice organizations urged the governor to commit 20% of the budget to funding state DOH harm reduction programs; protect overdose prevention centers; increase the amount of medication doctors can prescribe to treat withdrawal and more closely monitor opioid prescriptions in jails and prisons.
“As New Yorkers who continue to mourn and bury our loved ones at astounding rates, there is an opportunity for the state to improve countless lives by implementing public health solutions. We urge you to take the above steps to address the overdose crisis – the state cannot repeat the harms of the past,” the letter said to Hochul.
The Governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
