Weekly action items and updates from GHC #FairShare4Harlem
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| STRIVING FOR A HARLEM WHERE ALL PEOPLE CAN THRIVE
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| AS SEEN IN HARLEM SAREHAB.org |
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| THE VANCOUVER APPROACH A Harm Reduction Drinking Program
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| In Vancouver Canada, harm reduction proponents have established Community Managed Alcohol Programs (CMAPs) for people with severe alcohol use disorder (SAUD). People with SAUD will drink to the point of consuming non-beverage alcohol such as mouthwash or rubbing alcohol. CMAPs offer members limited amounts of member-brewed wine and beer. The Vancouver Sun noted: |
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| "Outside the PHS managed alcohol program‘s lounge in Vancouver, a passed-out woman lies on a patch of grass while others nearby keep an eye on her to make sure the situation doesn’t deteriorate. Inside, another woman hurls obscenities and accusations at a man while members continue sanitizing bottles and stirring homemade wine as though they’ve heard it all before. There are days when fights break out and when people are asked to go cool off elsewhere, but the little program on Princess Avenue beats the other options that usually include jail, the emergency room or, in recent years, fentanyl poisoning, according to those who run and use it." |
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| “As long as you’re a drinker, you’re welcome” |
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| Supporters of Managed alcohol programs claim decreased violence, and decreased visits to the emergency room and the justice system, while noting: |
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| "abstinence is not the goal of the program, many participants have made significant gains in their lives increasing health and wellbeing, finding stability, and quitting drinking alcoholic beverages." |
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| ALBANY SUBURBS FIGHT TO INSURE THEY HAVE NO OPIOID TREATMENT PROGRAMS Meanwhile Their Overdose Death Rates Skyrocket
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| To probably no one's surprise, residents in New York's Capital Region are fighting to keep their community free of any Opioid Treatment Programs while the community spirals deeper into the opioid crisis. |
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| Overdose death rates in Albany County tripled from 2014 to 2021, the most recent year with data available, outpacing the statewide death rate when New York City is excluded. |
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| Albany and neighboring Schenectady are both in the top quarter of counties with the highest so-called “opioid burden,” an aggregate measure of opioid-related deaths, ems calls, and emergency room visits. In the suburb of Menands, there is a proposal to introduce a new zoning law that would require new opioid treatment programs to obtain a special use permit, a process that can take months and allows the village to impose additional requirements. The city of Albany has a similar law that limits where and when a methadone clinic can operate — and now faces a fraught local debate over additional regulation. |
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| The new strategy would studiously avoid passing a law or local ordinance that could run afoul of the ADA. Instead, the town would pass a lengthy and arduous zoning law that would hamstring Opioid Treatment Program providers, thereby getting the same effect as a local law or ordinance, without targeting opioid treatment programs specifically. |
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| For context, it's important to note that Central Harlem and East Harlem have a total of 12 Opioid Treatment Programs that act as a regional hub, drawing people from Long Island, New Jersey, Staten Island, and Westchester. |
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