7 opiod bills signed by Mayor Bill De Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday signed seven bills to expand access to antidotes that counteract drug overdoses and to educate doctors, schoolchildren and the public about opioids.

The law covers schools, homeless shelters, needle exchange centers and other places where the city's anti-opioid message can reach drug users and potential drug users .

The legislation also provides for a wider distribution of products such as Naloxone and Narcan, which can prevent deaths from opioids.

Standing under a portrait of George Washington at City Hall and Fighting Colds, de Blasio said the legislation would help "fight the plague of opioids" in front of the city.

"Obviously, this is a tragedy occurring throughout the state, across the country," he said before signing the bills.

In a broader effort to reduce overdoses, the administration has filed lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and has proposed city-approved locations for detonating illicit drugs such as heroin.

Under the new law, staff of city needle exchange programs must be stocked with "opioid antagonists" such as naloxone and be trained on how to prevent and reverse overdoses.

The FDNY and the NYPD should start tracking the number of staff trained to administer opioid antidotes and the frequency with which antidotes are administered.

In addition, high school and high school students will receive educational materials on opiates and other drugs.

At a City Council hearing on June 5th on legislation, Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan / Bronx) said more New Yorkers are dying of overdoses than homicides, suicides and homicides. Road accidents combined.

Ayala cited statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that about 64,000 Americans died of an overdose in 2016, three quarters of which were caused by opioids – an increase of 21 percent compared to the previous year.

Jeffrey Reynolds, addiction specialist and head of the Association for Family and Children at Mineola, data reporting provisions such as those of city legislation are already enforced on Long Island .

Reynolds also said that most local school districts distribute educational materials.

"As we expand the public distribution of naloxone, we must also ensure that we continue to educate recipients about the expiration dates of the drug, the importance of receiving medical care after a reversal, the fact that Naloxone only works on heroin and opioids. Alcohol or other drugs, and that more than one dose may be required when the person has overdosed on Fentanyl, "Reynolds said in an email.

Monday, Nassau County Legis. Joshua Lafazan (I-Woodbury) has tabled three bills aimed at creating a 24-hour drug helpline and creating a smartphone app for drug addicts, said Danny Schrafel, spokesman for minority democrats.

New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn), who supported the legislation signed by Blasio, lamented that the government in the past has dealt with drugs through criminal laws, rather than by "l". humanity".

"I am very pleased that we are providing humanity to substance users who need help, because that is what should have always been," Williams said. "But there are people in communities who are still in prison and who still have a criminal background for the same problem, even if the drug of their choice was different, and it's unfortunate."

With Nicole Fuller