On Tuesday, the Drug Policy Alliance, Harm Reduction Coalition, New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), and Voices of Community Advocates and Leaders (VOCAL) traveled up to Albany for a day of action and meetings with state Legislators. The goal was two-fold: the first was to urge passing of a 911 Good Samaritan bill that would provide immunity to a person from arrest for drug possession if they call 911 in the event of a drug overdose, and the second was to urge Legislators to take out needle possession from New York State’'s penal law.


Last year in New York City, nearly 1,000 people died from drug overdoses, – making it the 4th leading cause of accidental death in New York City - more people died from overdoses than homicides. Many of these deaths could have been prevented, but when an overdose occurs, the first reaction of those witnessing is not to call for medical help because there is the fear that the police will come and arrest them. Since most overdose deaths do not occur immediately, every minute without medical intervention makes recovery less likely. The 911 Good Samaritan law provides immunity to those calling 911 or receiving medical treatment for an overdose. We went to Albany to urge state lawmakers that this law prioritizes saving lives over criminal arrest.

The second reason for our action in Albany is to urge legislators to decriminalize possession of needles by taking possession of needles out of the criminal code. New York State passed good policy in 2000 with the Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP), effectively decriminalizing needles in the public health code by Department of Health mandate. However, because possession of needles still remained an arrestable and jailable offense in the criminal penal law, many syringe exchange participants were and are harassed by police, arrested, and even jailed for up to a year because they possessed needles even when they were allowed to do so under the public health law. The effort to take needle possession out of the criminal code reconciles the public and criminal penal law and, more importantly, encourages greater access to clean and further exchange of dirty needles– - a practice that has already led to the dramatic decrease of HIV/AIDS prevalence in injection drug users from nearly 53% to 13% today.

We certainly hope that the passionate narratives and dramatic statistics told to Legislators by those affected by overdose and clean needle access can move these politicians to enact sound and effective legislation.