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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Senator Gustavo Rivera from New York State Senate on Syringe Service Programs and Harm Reduction
2:07:17
ยท
8 min
Senator Gustavo Rivera testifies against proposed legislation that would restrict syringe service programs (SSPs) near schools and playgrounds. He emphasizes that addiction is a medical problem, not a moral failing, and argues that harm reduction approaches are evidence-based and necessary to address the opioid crisis.
- Rivera criticizes the absence of council members who left before hearing all testimonies
- He advocates for using opioid settlement funds to expand harm reduction services
- The senator urges colleagues to engage with service providers and community members to understand the importance of SSPs
Gustavo Rivera
2:07:17
I will not take I I was concerned about that because I might take a little bit more than three, but, but I will take just a few minutes, first of all, to thank you, madam chair, for having this hearing, and I certainly thank all the folks who were there in person.
2:07:29
I do wanna say though that it that I I don't know what other members are currently, present, but it is but it is unfortunate.
2:07:37
I'll share the the concern that one of my that one of the earlier panelists shared about the fact that, both council member Feliz and council member Marmarado, both who crossed over in my district, had left.
2:07:48
I'm not sure if they returned, but I would hope that they would have stayed to hear the rest of the con of the conversation.
2:07:54
But, you know, they're not here, so I just wanted to express my concern.
2:07:56
But they're both in my district, and many of the folks who actually did testify today are part of my district.
2:08:02
So, and so I wanted to just say a couple of things off the top, which I think need to be stated for the record.
2:08:08
And I would again hope that I would have hoped that some of your some of your colleagues some of my colleagues, right, who are my my who who are in my district would have stayed to to hear for a second.
2:08:18
We have to remember that addiction is not a moral failing.
2:08:22
It is true that but certainly for people like myself, I was I grew up in the eighties, so I had that message shoved into my head, you know, just say no to drugs, say no to drugs.
2:08:31
It's as if though it's just a choice that one would make and one that if you make the choice of using drugs, there's obviously something wrong with you.
2:08:39
There's a level of stigma that is attached to the to the fact that we have thought for so long that addiction is a moral failing, and that stigma has led to some of the policies which have led to the incredibly concerning overdose deaths that we have seen for many, many years, but certainly the spikes that we've seen in the last couple of years.
2:08:58
Addiction is a not a moral failing.
2:09:00
It is a medical problem, so it must be dealt with.
2:09:04
We cannot criminalize just criminalizing it does not solve it.
2:09:07
If that was the case, if saying just say no and just we're gonna criminalize people who sell it or use it, etcetera, if that was solving the problem, it would have solved it already.
2:09:18
And I was also and I would say that that some of my colleagues, unfortunately, seem to just want to ignore the fact that there is that they that these practices from from SSPs are and harm reduction policies are evidence based practices.
2:09:35
There are there is data that goes back generations that talks about the fact that if we treat it as a crime, we're never gonna solve it.
2:09:42
If we treat it as a public health problem, we can make progress.
2:09:46
And, abstinence only does not work.
2:09:49
It is true that certain people are just able to quit, but the reality of addiction is not that people can just go like this and quit.
2:09:57
Most people can't.
2:09:59
And we need to understand that and the services as somebody said a little earlier, and I believe it was you, madam chair, who who said that we need to meet people where they are.
2:10:08
And that is exactly what SSPs are, which is what I wanted to get to.
2:10:12
The reason why many of these are because I'll talk about the location that council member Feliz mentioned because it is in my district.
2:10:18
It isn't his.
2:10:18
It is in mine.
2:10:19
It's 532 East Tremont Avenue.
2:10:21
Yes.
2:10:22
That is right near a park, right near Walter Gladwin Park, right on East Tremont Avenue in The Bronx.
2:10:29
The reason that that is there, that that van is there, I'm not sure which service provider is the one that is there, but that is because that is where the population is.
2:10:39
SSPs, these mobile folks, go to places where the populations are, where people who use drugs are.
2:10:47
And let's let's remember that all of these are about all of these practices are about public health.
2:10:53
This is about public health.
2:10:54
The fact is that letting people cutting off people from services, which is as many of the folks today have testified, what this bill would ultimately do.
2:11:03
It would cut off people from services because these vans go to the places where the where where the populations are and connect them to services, not only provide them needles, but actually provide them services and access to the services that they might need, etcetera.
2:11:21
If they don't have those services, then they're not only going to use, maybe exchange needles, actually would lead them potentially to have HIV, hepatitis C, other blood borne diseases, that's what we want to eliminate.
2:11:37
But also they wouldn't have access to the services, period.
2:11:40
So folks are going to keep using.
2:11:42
So this is this is what I'll what I'll end with, and and I do appreciate you giving me a little bit of leeway through.
2:11:48
Look, The fact is that there are solutions here.
2:11:51
We need to actually deal with the actual problem and not just try to go backwards in ways that we tried to do it before.
2:12:00
To criminalize something is not going to solve it.
2:12:03
To, to treat it like a to treat addiction like a crime, to treat people who use drugs as criminals, to say that it's just if I don't see them, they're not a problem.
2:12:13
That doesn't solve anything.
2:12:15
We have many things that we can do, and I'll just mention a couple off the top as I bring this in for a For a First of all, the opioid settlement fund, which is a bill that I passed a couple of years ago, which has given the state this is this is a bill which would take money that we get from settlements from pharmaceutical companies, which exacerbated the addiction crisis and the overdose crisis because they marketed opioids as if though they were candy.
2:12:44
But we've actually brought all sorts of lawsuits against them, and those lawsuits bring us settlements that then sit in a fund that because of a bill that I was able to pass a couple years ago, could only be used for certain for for treatment, for harm reduction, for recovery.
2:12:58
And so I would say that part of the solution here is having the department of the the the city council to pressure the mayor's office, to pressure the department of health, to make sure that the money that comes from the state to the to the city actually gets used for the purposes that are being that is being that the board that the opioid settlement fund board is recommending.
2:13:24
The recommendations that they have, these are experts in harm reduction, in treatment, in recovery, and so pressuring the city to make sure that those millions of dollars go to those services and expand those services, that would be best.
2:13:37
Certainly, as you mentioned, the program that's just about to start related to the buyback program, it is gonna start in the spring, and I am very much looking forward to that program getting off the ground and seeing how it functions.
2:13:48
So we should wait for data on how that works, and, and make sure that we focus on giving more funding to those into those institutions, certainly Boom Health, St.
2:13:59
Ardent's Corner of Harm Reduction, OnPoint NYC.
2:14:02
These are all folks.
2:14:03
These are all agencies.
2:14:04
Some of them in the room there that actually do this work.
2:14:07
They pick up syringes.
2:14:08
They identify the places where they are, and they work with the community.
2:14:12
So finally, I'll finish with this.
2:14:13
I was very glad to see the the Friends of Echo Park.
2:14:16
These are a a group of community members who, as they themselves have said, have made an evolution based on how they view the work that these folks actually do.
2:14:26
And I would ask, I would plead, I would plead publicly to my colleagues who are who are still insistent that the way to deal with this problem is to further criminalize, to push people to the side, to, eliminate the possibility of these places, of these vans being where they are, etcetera, etcetera.
2:14:44
I would plead for them to make the same to do the same thing that these community members did, to actually talk to the providers, to go and see the work that they do, to ask questions, to ask questions of the people who are being served, the users themselves, to visit some of these facilities.
2:15:01
I would ask them to do that, and hopefully, when we do that, we can all come together and say, let's actually focus on real solutions, not just something that sounds good and makes us feel better, but doesn't actually solve the problem.
2:15:14
So with that, madam chair, thank you for the leeway, and, certainly, if there's any questions, I'll take them.
2:15:17
But thank you so much for having me this morning.
Linda Lee
2:15:20
Thank you so much, senator.