It's been two months since New York City opened the first-ever overdose prevention center (OPC) in the United States, and public health experts said the clinic is already saving lives.
OPCs are places that allow people to use drugs without attempting to help them get clean and that state and local governments are forced to pay for materials including crack pipes and meth pipes to feed people's addictions.In this May 3, 2019, file photo, community leaders and drug policy activists returned to the steps of City Hall in New York, united in anger as Governor Cuomo has refused to move forward with Overdose Prevention Centers.
"We are now creating safe spaces for people to use that are not -- they're no longer feeling criminalized," Emily Kaltenbach, the senior director of criminal legal & policing reform at the Drug Policy Alliance, a non-profit seeking to reduce the harms of drug use, told ABC News."People can come and feel safe to use. They're no longer using in alleys or by themselves.
"In these centers, there's immediate access to life-saving, overdose prevention interventions there," Kaltenbach said."People are not sharing syringes, for example. So, the prevention of the spread of diseases by reducing HIV and hepatitis C is huge."
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