After Connecticut’s record-high year for accidental drug overdose deaths in 2021, lawmakers are weighing a new approach to curbing the state’s opioid crisis: overdose prevention centers.
The centers, which have existed in Canada and Europe for years, aim to reduce overdose deaths by offering people a safe place to use narcotics with supervision and services like fentanyl testing.
At a Public Health Committee forum Thursday, state legislators heard from Sam Rivera, director of OnPoint NYC, a nonprofit that runs two overdose prevention centers in New York City.
“One hundred percent of our participants, one hundred percent, every person I mention, has been in detox or treatment multiple times,” Rivera said. “And we want to get them to the next time. We want to keep them here for the next time.”
Since they opened in November, Rivera said the New York centers have prevented over 300 overdoses.
The number of deaths by drug overdose in Connecticut has steadily increased each year: In 2021, there were 1,526 fatalities. So far in 2022, that number is 519.
Public Health Committee Vice Chair Saud Anwar urged his peers to absorb Thursday’s advice from experts and seriously consider the option for the next legislative session.
“Our state is, in my opinion, ready for looking at this seriously,” Anwar said. “Because we cannot just say every year that this is the worst year that we have had and then continue to move forward without making a systematic, broad change in how we are doing things.”
