A Coalition Builds In Seattle

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January 18, 2022

STRIVING FOR A HARLEM WHERE ALL PEOPLE CAN THRIVE

THE CRISIS:

Addiction and Homeless Activists Gather in Seattle

Earlier in January, a meeting was called to gather community activists, recovery advocates, program providers, government officials, and not-for-profits in Seattle, WA. The goal of this gathering was to create a North American advocacy coalition focusing on solutions and strategies to address the mental health, addiction, and homeless crises in the United States and Canada.

Over three days, 45 delegates from Texas to Vancouver, and Los Angeles to New York agreed to form a coalition that focuses on compassionate, integrated, and recovery focused solutions that center long-term success at every stage in the path to wellness.

We believe in the inherent worth, dignity, and unique purpose of every human being, including the hundreds of thousands suffering from addiction and experiencing untreated mental illness on the streets of America. Our goal as a society should be to help individuals realize their full human potential.

The groups that attended agreed that the personal, regional, and international dimensions of this crisis, demands immediate action. Attendee after attendee reported on how communities with integrated, supportive paths focused on the whole person, succeeded.

The Greater Harlem Coalition was in attendance as a founding member and looks forward to working with this north American coalition to bring compassionate strategies to our city, our country, and beyond.

VANCOUVER vs. ALBERTA

Vancouver's Numerous Supervised Injection Sites Fail to Stem the Overdose Epidemic Surge

Vancouver's supervised injection sites first appeared in 2003 and while repeatedly touted as having reversed in-house overdoses, they have failed to stem the shocking rise in overdose deaths in Vancouver.

The neighboring province east of Vancouver - Alberta - has also opened overdose prevention sites, but has carefully regulated these programs and positioned them in a comprehensive integrated path supporting the patient's journey towards the goal of recovery.

The result?

Opioid-related deaths in Alberta have decreased in 2022

Given that opioid-related deaths in Alberta decreased in 2022, why does New York City base its supervised injection site on the failed Vancouver model?

Unlike New York City's approach, Alberta has:

Established 8,000 new publicly funded spaces for addiction treatment, detox and recovery.
Made residential addiction treatment free for Albertans by eliminating daily user fees.
Built recovery communities to provide holistic treatment to individuals experiencing addiction.
Implemented new standards for supervised consumption services to improve the quality of services offered and ensure clients are better connected to the health-care system.
Launched the Digital Overdose Response System app, a harm reduction tool that helps summon emergency services when people use opioids and other substances alone.
Expanded access to OAT medications to help manage withdrawal symptoms, including fully covering the cost of the injectable opioid treatment drug Sublocade.
Provided treatment on demand for people with opioid addiction through the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program. Albertans anywhere in the province can get same-day access to evidence-based OAT medications with no wait list and no fees.
Worked with police services across the province to offer anyone who has been arrested immediate access to opioid addiction treatment and an addiction medicine physician.

To learn more about Alberta's successful model click HERE

2021 OVERDOSE DEATH DATA HAS BEEN RELEASED

As Expected, The News Is Not Good

Rates of overdose death increased the most among residents of the Bronx followed by residents of Brooklyn, then Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens

The neighborhoods with the highest rates of overdose death were Hunts Point-Mott Haven, Crotona-Tremont, and Highbridge-Morrisania in the Bronx

The largest overdose mortality increases occurred among older New Yorkers, Black New Yorkers, residents of the Bronx, and residents of very high poverty neighborhoods

Fentanyl was the most common substance involved in overdose deaths (80%), followed by cocaine (47%), alcohol (39%), and heroin (37%).

Black New Yorkers had the highest rate of cocaine-involved overdose death

The rate of overdose death among male New Yorkers was over three times as high as the rate among female New Yorkers

Get the full dataset HERE

https://greaterharlem.nyc/

#FairShare4Harlem

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