NEW YORK (WCBS 880/AP) – Days after the nation's first supervised injection sites for drug users opened in New York City, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis introduced legislation in Congress to withhold federal funding from the centers, saying they violate state and federal law.
Malliotakis’ office said her legislation, dubbed the “Defund de Blasio's Injection Sites Act of 2021,” would “withhold federal funding from city, state, tribal or private entities that operate supervised injection centers in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.”
Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that two "overdose prevention centers" were opening in Washington Heights and East Harlem. The privately run sites provide a monitored place for drug users to partake.
“I’m proud to show cities in this country that after decades of failure, a smarter approach is possible,” de Blasio said at the time.
The sites don’t sell drugs — users bring their own — but have monitors who watch for signs of overdose and can administer an antidote if needed. Sterile syringes and other accoutrements are usually on hand. City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said the facilities would also offer referrals to drug treatment and other services.
Proponents of the facilities, including the mayor, say they’re pragmatic, life-saving tools for stopping overdoses, reducing HIV infections and helping curb drug use in public places.
Malliotakis, a Republican from Staten Island, disagrees. She and other critics, including the New York's Republican delegation, describe the sites as moral failures that essentially sanction people harming themselves and create hubs of drug use.
Federal law also bans operating a place for taking illegal drugs, and the government successfully sued in recent years to block a supervised consumption space in Philadelphia.
Malliotakis said the sites are a violation of the Controlled Substances Act, and she has called on President Joe Biden’s Justice Department and state Attorney General Letitia James to shut them down.
“In 2018, the Department of Justice committed to me that it would intervene if Mayor de Blasio proceeded with his illegal scheme to open heroin injection centers in New York City,” Malliotakis said in a statement.
“Now that Mayor de Blasio has gone forward with these plans, I've called on the Biden Administration to take the same course of action,” Malliotakis continued. “If they don't, I've introduced this legislation to ensure any federal funds sent to entities that operate these unlawful facilities are stripped for good. We've already identified millions of federal dollars that have been sent to these facilities. Gifting money to heroin shooting galleries that only encourage drug use and deteriorate our quality of life is an egregious abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
The CDC estimates there were more than 93,300 overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2020, up nearly 30% from the prior year’s number. In New York City, more than 2,060 people died of overdoses last year, the most since reporting began in 2000.
Researchers have estimated that supervised injection sites in New York City could prevent 130 deaths and save $7 million in health care expenses per year.
Some of the city's five district attorneys, including those in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, said they're open to safe injection sites. The NYPD said it had been consulted about the city’s authorization of injection sites.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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