For International Overdose Awareness Day, a passionate group of protesters surrounded the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office (SNP) in Manhattan this past Thursday, claiming that the office was a relic of the country’s outdated and “racist” war on drugs.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Center for Health Statistics indicates there were an estimated 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. during 2021—an almost 15% increase from 2020. An estimated 3,229 people fatally overdosed in New York City between March of 2022 and March of 2023, said the CDC.
The protesters started out with dozens gathering at City Hall’s plaza for a vigil to honor lives lost to the overdose crisis, which they date back to the so-dubbed “war on drugs” as well as the recent fentanyl and opioid waves. The rallying groups included Vocal-NY, Drug Policy Alliance, and Katal Center members. Reverend Erica Poellot of Judson Memorial Church and Vocal-NY’s Marilyn Reyes performed the vigil.
A recent data report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) indicates that overdose deaths or overdose mortality rates citywide follow the national trend. The rate “increased to 39.4 per 100,000 city residents” in 2021. Black New Yorkers had the highest rate of overdose death, followed by Latinos, and the Bronx had the highest concentration of overdose deaths.
The DOHMH said that “fentanyl was the most common substance involved in overdose deaths (80%), followed by cocaine (47%), alcohol (39%), and heroin (37%)” in 2021. Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic opioid that has been infiltrating other drug supplies since 2015.
“The most prominent inequity in overdose mortality rates in New York City continues to be by geography, reflecting a highly segregated city. As in prior years, these geographic patterns reflect inequities in income, wealth, employment, education, criminal legal system involvement, and housing,” the report said. “All of these factors have been linked to an increased risk of overdose death and are the result of structural racism and disinvestment in communities.”
Terrell Jones, community engagement and advocacy manager for OnPoint NYC, is a former drug user who was incarcerated for drug-related offenses. He said that programs like OnPoint saved his life by holistically addressing his addiction and helping him rehabilitate. He’s been dedicated to helping others with their addictions for decades and spoke about his experiences at the rally.
He, like others at the rally, is a huge proponent of overdose prevention centers (OPCs). “They get to detox, use services, they get free food, [and] holistic mental health care,” Jones said about those who get support at these centers. “They also can get safe drug testing and other client services.”
Currently, New York State has two OPCs in East Harlem and Washington Heights in Manhattan. According to the DOH, an OPC is where people can safely use previously obtained drugs under the supervision of trained staff—an effective tool for “public health intervention to prevent overdose deaths.” DOH said that OPCs reduce injection-related illnesses, increase access to health care and referrals to drug treatment, reduce public drug use and syringe litter. An OPC is privately funded.
However, some community members in these two neighborhoods have been incredibly vocal about the optics of concentrating OPCs in historically Black and brown neighborhoods.
The rally eventually turned into a march towards the SNP building in Manhattan, where protesters crowded onto the building steps to give speeches about how Governor Kathy Hochul should shut the office down and abolish state-run methadone clinics. The only of its kind in the country, the SNP is a state office that collaborates with the city’s district attorneys to prosecute felony narcotics cases.
“Prosecution and punishment have never been life-saving strategies,” said Deputy Public Advocate Solomon Acevedo from the SNP steps. “It’s only been life healing policies.”
Acevedo spoke powerfully about a cousin who died in 2018 from an overdose. “He had been using drugs from the time he was 12 years old to the time he was 25. He had been in and out of jail several times in Puerto Rico. The last time he was released, two days later he used again and took a fatal dose,” said Acevedo.
On behalf of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Acevedo threw his support behind more OPCs. He demanded that Hochul direct funds into more OPCs to increase harm reduction and overdose death prevention methods.
Amsterdam News reached out to Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan for a response. In a statement, Brennan said that the recent calls for abolishing the SNP were “misguided and based upon inaccurate information.” She said drug laws, mandatory sentences, and criminal justice approaches have changed significantly during the past two decades and have not sent thousands to state prisons like protestors claimed. In 2022, their prosecutions sent 183 people to state prison, said Brennan, down from the 451 people in 2018.
“In the midst of an unparalleled overdose epidemic, the work of our office has never been more important or more relevant than it is today. Illegal drugs smuggled into New York, and packaged and sold here are deadlier than ever, largely due to lethal fentanyl smuggled in from Mexico. More New Yorkers are losing their lives to overdose death than at any time in the city’s history,” said Brennan. “The Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutors focuses on saving lives in every borough by targeting those importing and trafficking large volumes of deadly narcotics, as well as local drug distribution networks linked to overdoses and violence. Last year alone, our cases resulted in the seizure of almost one thousand pounds of fentanyl, and nearly a million fentanyl pills.”
Brennan added that today’s drug epidemic requires a collaborative approach that includes effective treatment, prevention programs, and proven harm reduction strategies. She also recognized “the impact of high incarceration rates of the late 1980s and the 1990s, particularly in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.” She said that there is an understanding of the consequences of policies of that period and the office has shifted its approach because of it. She said the SNP is committed to treatment, prevention, educational initiatives, and the community.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1
Interestingly, the SNP prosecutor is assigned to that post by agreement with all five elected DAs. She was never elected! Brennan has been in that position unchecked for decades. Get new blood in there. We have had enough of this old way of thinking! DAs from Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island should request her immediate resignation!