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Greater Harlem Coalition Logo

February 22, 2023

STRIVING FOR A HARLEM WHERE ALL PEOPLE CAN THRIVE

GHC ON THE ROAD IN NEW HAVEN:

Popcorn, Movie and Community Conversation

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The Greater Harlem Coalition has been working with Newhallville residents (a majority Black New Haven community) for over a year now, to support them in their fight against systemic oversaturation.  As with Harlem, Connecticut politicians, bureaucrats, and providers have targeted a majority Black community to serve as a regional drug treatment hub.



You are welcome to join Saturday's Zoom to learn more about Newhallville's resistance to systemic oversaturation and support their fight to demand that all neighborhoods in New Haven to take their fair share in the struggle against the opioid overdose epidemic.

Join the conversation on the systemic oversaturation of a majority Black New Haven community

MEDIA COVERAGE:

WBUR's Report on Oversaturation in San Francisco

WBUR - public radio in Boston - has a program On Point (not associated with OnPoint the supervised injection provider in Harlem and Washington Heights) that traveled to San Francisco to look at America's fentanyl epicenter where unchecked open air drug scenes have rendered blocks of the city a terrifying wasteland.

GHC's NYCHA OUTREACH:

William Smith Meets With Dewitt-Clinton Houses

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The Greater Harlem Coalition met with the residents' council at Dewitt Clinton Houses to discuss structural oversaturation and the underfunding and the neglect of Clinton's extensive repair requests.  This NYCHA complex comprises of six buildings that have a total of 749 apartments and 1,823 people.

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Clinton Houses occupies the two blocks that are bordered by East 110th Street to the north, Lexington Avenue to the east, Park Avenue to the west, and East 108th Street to the south

We look forward to working with Clinton Houses on fostering a Harlem that thrives.

To learn who Dewitt Clinton was, click HERE

TECHNOLOGY PILOT PROGRAM

OnPoint Tests Drugs Provided by Users and Dealers  

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(Above: OnPoint staff bring a drug user from the South Bronx to their East Harlem facility - Gothamist)



Gothamist.com reports on a new tool that OnPoint has been given to examine the supply of illegal drugs brought in by drug users and by drug dealers.  By allowing dealers to have their product tested using an expensive and rare Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy machine (FTIR) machine, the dealers are able to gauge the potency of their drug supply and adjust their sales.



“Drug dealers are trying to get money,” said Terrell Jones, the advocacy and community engagement manager at OnPoint NYC. “They ain't trying to go to jail for homicide.”



A Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy machine (FTIR) machine at OnPoint permits OnPoint staff to be able to examine and determine the chemical makeup of drugs brought in by users and dealers.

Research on past drug checking programs shows that people can have a range of reactions when they find out their drugs contain something dangerous or unexpected. Some may throw the drugs out, but several studies show that, more often, participants vow to change their behavior given the close call.

    A 2018 study of a drug checking program at a supervised injection facility in Canada, for example, found that 11% of participants said they would get rid of their drugs, while 36% said they would use less.

    

    Karen McDonald leads Toronto’s Drug Checking Service. “When we were originally funded, governments thought, ‘We're going to show people what's in their drugs and they're going to turn around and decide not to use those drugs or throw those drugs out,” McDonald said. “That is not the reality of the situation. ​​People work very hard for these drugs. Also, people are physically dependent on these drugs.”

    To read the full Gothamist article, click HERE
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