OVerDose PRevention Centers

OnPoint NYC's Full 2023 Baseline Report

"New York, NY – OnPoint NYC, operator of the only locally-approved overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in the United States, released a baseline report with detailed findings from year one of their operation, the first report of its kind. The OPC model allows for trained professionals to be immediately present at the onset of concerning symptoms, able to intervene within seconds. The model also plays a critical role in bringing public drug use inside, removing hazardous waste from public spaces, and connecting people who use drugs with treatments and other health services. Findings show that proper training and proximity were key in preventing overdose deaths and other health risks associated with drug use. As the overdose crisis, driven by the increasingly potent, unpredictable drug supply, claims over 100,000 lives every year nationwide, this groundbreaking report underscores the urgency around replicating this model and opening OPCs across the country."

"First year findings include:

• In just a single year, OnPoint staff intervened 636 times to prevent overdose death and other associated harms.
• 1 in 5 participants were referred to housing, detox, treatment, primary care, or employment supports. 100% of participants wanting detox or inpatient substance use treatment were connected to outside providers.
• The OPCs were used by 2,841 unique participants, who used the sites 48,533 times.
• Before the opening of the OPCs, NYC Parks reported collecting an average of 13,000 syringes per month from Highbridge Park – located across the street from the Washington Heights location. In the month following the opening of the OPCs, syringe collection dropped to 1,000.
• Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were only called 23 times out of 48,533 visits, freeing up capacity for first responders to respond to other calls.
• 83% of opioid overdoses were resolved without the need for Naloxone through oxygenation, agitation, and close monitoring, strategies which are proven to be easier on the body. "

Sourced from Drug Policy Alliance:  Baseline Report Shows Nation’s First Overdose Prevention Centers are Safe, Effective, and Responsive to Community Needs - Drug Policy Alliance 

 The Nation’s First Publicly Recognized Overdose Prevention Centers: Lessons Learned in New York City - PMC 

"Advocacy groups, including VOCAL-NY, the Drug Policy Alliance, and Housing Works, worked for many years to encourage state and federal elected officials to take legislative or executive action to authorize the operation of OPCs statewide and nationwide. "

"In late 2020, the NYC Health Department reignited its effort to establish OPCs in NYC. With the leadership of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and in the context of new administrations at the federal and state levels, the city began strategizing around three key domains to facilitate the opening of OPCs: legal and political climate; operational readiness; community engagement." 

"Key public messages

□ New York City is in the middle of an overdose crisis. Our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family members are dying. OPCs save lives

□ In addition to providing a safe place for people to use drugs, OPCs offer personal hygiene facilities, clean clothes, medical and pharmaceutical services, and connections to health care and social services. They are harm reduction hubs that provide connections to vital resources

□ The OPCs are being run by established, trusted, skilled, and regulated professionals in programs that already exist and have ongoing relationships with the communities they serve

□ OPCs are a place-based strategy to reduce overdose deaths in neighborhoods with high overdose burdens. They serve people who reside and spend time in the neighborhoods where they are located. There is no evidence that OPCs draw people who use drugs from outside the neighborhood; on the contrary, research from SSPs demonstrates that most people attend harm reduction services within a 10-min walk of where they live [11]

□ These services also improve community outcomes. Evidence from OPCs worldwide shows that they help reduce public drug use, syringe litter, and drug-related crime."