A Visit to the First Legal Safe Injection Site in the USA

I took a short subway ride from my home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to East Harlem to visit OnPoint NYC – the first overdose prevention center, a.k.a. safe injection site or supervised injection facility, to operate openly in my country with the permission of the mayor and other top officials. Executive director Sam Rivera, senior director of programs Kailin See, and other OnPoint staff and clients showed me around and answered my questions: Why did it take so long and how have people in the neighborhood responded? What about the police? What drugs do they use, and how? What happens when someone overdoses? What other services are available? How does this site differ from OnPoint’s other location, in Washington Heights, and from other sites in Europe, Canada and Australia?

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