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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jasmine Budnella, Director of Drug Policy at VOCAL-NY
1:28:43
ยท
4 min
Jasmine Budnella, Director of Drug Policy at VOCAL-NY, testifies against two proposed bills (Intro 868 and Intro 1169) that would restrict syringe service programs. She argues these bills would hinder public health efforts and make it harder to reach vulnerable populations who need these services.
- VOCAL-NY has been providing harm reduction services in Brooklyn for nearly two decades
- Intro 868 would severely limit where mobile syringe service programs can operate, potentially making it nearly illegal in some neighborhoods
- Intro 1169's requirement for tracking syringes distributed vs. collected is criticized as unnecessary red tape
- Budnella emphasizes the success of their program beyond syringe distribution, including housing placement and treatment referrals
Jasmine Budnella
1:28:43
Good morning.
1:28:44
You can hear me okay?
1:28:45
Awesome.
1:28:46
My name is Jasmine Bunnell and I'm the director of drug policy at Vocal New York.
1:28:50
I wanted to start off by thanking you all for allowing me this moment to testify.
1:28:54
This thanks comes not just from me, but from our staff at our syringe service program, our participants, and our members and leaders, and from countless that we have lost over the last year.
1:29:05
Vocal New York was founded by AIDS activists who refused to wait for permission to save lives.
1:29:11
They built underground syringe exchange programs because policymakers refused to act.
1:29:16
The same programs that has since become the gold standard for public health for people who use drugs.
1:29:23
For nearly two decades, we've been providing harm reduction services in Brooklyn.
1:29:28
It is not lost on but seems to be lost on some that as the federal government is considering gutting Medicaid, a critical health care for the people that we serve, the bills before this council will chip away at another health system for people who use drugs.
1:29:46
What is being proposed will take us backwards and force the most vulnerable into shadows and have real health impacts.
1:29:54
We are urging the council to lead and reject these bills.
1:29:58
Intro eight six eight will make it harder for us to reach the people who need the services the most.
1:30:04
As Christine said, in a city as densely packed as New York, where public spaces and schools are everywhere, this would severely limit our ability of where we can operate.
1:30:14
In many neighborhoods, it would make it nearly illegal for us to operate.
1:30:20
Mobile syringe service programs exist because many people experiencing homelessness and drug use can't act easily access brick and mortar locations.
1:30:29
Community members, elected officials, and agencies often ask us to go to hot spots in the city to serve these areas.
1:30:38
The city can't, on the one hand, or this bill, on the one hand, tell us that we need to go clean up and service certain areas and ban us from doing so.
1:30:48
Our services are much more than providing sterile supplies.
1:30:52
At all of our outreach locations, we do syringe cleanup within two block radius.
1:30:58
And just last week, one of our participants voiced that they were ready for treatment and we were able to connect them to detox before we left that location.
1:31:07
Homeless encampment sweeps have increasingly become a barrier to our services.
1:31:13
We lose contact with many of our participants, which means not being able to provide them with care, sometimes only reuniting them with them when a new hot spot emerges, and we cannot stress enough that housing is a critical piece of this dynamic.
1:31:30
Not to mention, for homeless New Yorkers, overdose is the leading cause of death.
1:31:36
Our mobile services are underfunded and understaffed.
1:31:40
Instead of limiting proven public health solutions, the city must invest in expanding mobile syringes services in the Department of Health.
1:31:48
I just want to really quick highlight on the second bill.
1:31:52
Requiring public tracking of the number of syringes versus collected in and out.
1:31:56
It's not a public health strategy.
1:31:58
It's red tape to made to make harm reduction harder.
1:32:01
I wanted to give you the stats of our successes of our program just very quickly.
1:32:06
Outside of just providing syringes, we got 18 participants into a safe haven this year, nine from shelters and safe haven into permanent housing, 16 enrolled in buprenorphine, nine enrolled in hepatitis c care and treatment, and one of our participants just enrolled college.
1:32:25
One big thing, one to one exchange, the intro eleven sixty nine creates a precedent for one to one exchange, which New York has long abandoned.
1:32:36
This decreases trust, increases barriers, and the likelihood of reusing and sharing syringes, inevitably increasing the risk of hepatitis c and HIV transmissions, abscesses that can lead to amputations and blood infections.
1:32:50
Studies have continuously shown that needs based distribution is the way to go.
1:32:56
In fact, outside of studies, the WHO, the CDC, the United Nations, the New York State Department of Health all recommend needs based distribution.
1:33:06
As our social safety nets across the country and here in New York are deeply at risk of being cut, we cannot allow more barriers to us being able to provide care and save lives.
1:33:20
Thank you for letting me go over time.