Lehman College hosted a drug policy panel event on Tuesday, Sept. 17, to discuss the ways in which the New York legislature, advocacy groups, nonprofits, and NYS Department of Health (DOH) have collaborated to create new solutions to tackle the issue of substance abuse and overdose prevention.

 

State Sen. Nathalia Fernandez (S.D. 34), who broadly represents the East Bronx, Assembly Member Yudelka Tapia (A.D. 86), who broadly represents the Center/West Bronx, Toni Smith of the Drug Policy Alliance, and Allan Clear of the AIDS Institute rounded out the panel and discussed the different roles stakeholders have on the issue of substance abuse.

 

Smith talked about harm reduction as a strategy, saying, “There are a lot of different services for people related to drug use, from different forms of treatment to counseling, including mental health counseling, including prevention, and education in schools.”

 

He added, “Harm reduction is one of the strategies that acknowledges that drug use is going to occur, and that people need access to services that are going to meet them at a place that acknowledges that use occurring.” He said this was so that people [users] could be a partner in driving what that looks like for them.

 

Tapia discussed a bill she sponsored, A06506B, which has passed in the Assembly and has been sponsored by Fernandez in the State Senate as S06084B. The bill prohibits the sale of Xylazine to anyone under the age of 21 without proof of intended use. It is currently under review by the Consumer Protection committee.

“Xylazine has been increasingly found in illicit drug supplies often mixed with fentanyl,” said Tapia. “This combination has had devastating consequences, contributing to severe overdoses that cannot be reversed by Naxolone, a live-saving treatment that typically reverses the effects of an overdose. So, between 2018 and 2021, Xylazine-related overdoses increased 1,238%. This bill aims to restrict the sale of Xylazine, limiting its availability to institutional or scientific purposes.”

 

Meanwhile, Fernandez, chair of the State Alcoholism and Substance Use Disorders Committee, has sponsored several other bills, including S9728B (currently at committee level), which establishes a wound care kit and xylazine test strip distribution, and S7288 (which passed in the Senate), which would cap the total amount an insured person would pay to receive treatment for substance use disorder at $500 for each episode of care.

 

“I have bills to support all levels of someone’s journey,” Fernandez said.  “Instead of forcing people to go to jail for using and having drugs, you’re going to go to treatment, and that’s where you should be going first.”

 

For his part, Clear said that new legislation was often good and well-intentioned but lacks the monetary power to make it work as intended. “Money has always been an issue,” he said, adding that no matter how wonderful the bill is, neither the governor’s office nor the assembly or senate provide enough money to implement some of the new legislation.

 

Towards the end of the discussion, audience members had the chance to ask the panelists questions, many of which centered around personal experiences related to the impact of drug use. Fernandez concluded the event, saying “We’re here because we’re dedicated to fighting until the very last minute.”

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.