Give Anti-Overdose Drugs Kits To NYC Nightclubs, Lawmakers Say

New York City NY

24 February, 2022

5:05 PM

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NEW YORK CITY — Anti-overdose drugs soon could be stocked in New York City nightclubs. A pair of City Council members introduced a bill Thursday to provide nightclubs with up to 10 free kits of drugs that reverse opioid overdoses. "Overdose deaths are on the rise in New York City, in part due to deadly substances like fentanyl and heroin that permeate our city's clubs and bars," said Keith Powers, who introduced the bill alongside Council Member Chi Ossé, in a statement. "This important, life saving legislation will create a program to provide bars and restaurants with the tools they need to protect New Yorkers against preventable overdoses." Unintentional overdose deaths in the city rose 7.3 percent in 2019, according to the city's health department. Opioids misuse drove a significant portion of such deaths in the city and nationwide in recent years, with health officials frequently labeling it an epidemic. Drugs such as naloxone — often sold as Narcan — that reverse the effects of opioid overdoses are viewed by experts as a powerful tool to prevent deaths. Ossé's and Power's bill would require the city's health department to create a new Nightlife Opioid Antagonist Program. This legislative push came months after two historic injection sites in East Harlem and Washington Heights, where overdoses are reduced on an average of one per day. Lawmakers also hope to install vending machines stocked with overdose-reversing medication and clean needles in neighborhoods across the five boroughs, Patch reported last month. A release from the Council members touted the bill as a "harm reduction" measure. "Drug use and overdose deaths have been on the rise in our country and city for a long time now, and we must confront the root causes," Ossé said in a statement. "But right now we have a problem on our hands and a common-sense solution right in front of us. This bill will save lives and make our city safer, with no downside. It should be swiftly passed."