The Staten Island Fentanyl and Overdose Task Force is demanding that Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislators in Albany declare a state of emergency in response to the alarming numbers of fatal overdoses on Staten Island and throughout New York State.
The call for a state of emergency is part of more than a dozen major recommendations included in a report released on Wednesday by the task force of more than 60 people comprised of borough politicians and community leaders, members of law enforcement, providers and consumers of behavioral-health services, and family members of overdose victims. Many of these members convened Wednesday afternoon at the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office to formally announce the recommendations.
At the event, speakers reflected on the fatal effects of drugs such as Fentanyl and the path ahead, which aims to alleviate the suffering felt by many on Staten Island.
“The reality is, substance use disorder has become the scourge of our time, and I believe future generations are going to judge us based on how we handle this,” Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) Executive Director and task force member Dr. Brahim Ardolic said. “This is something that we are not doing enough about nationally, and yet, if you compare Staten Island even to the nation, we are under resourced.”
An estimated 155 people lost their lives to drug overdoses in the borough in 2023, adding to the toll of more than 830 people who have died of overdoses since 2016 on the Island, according to the latest statistics released by the task force.
“For far too long, Staten Islanders have suffered from the effects of fentanyl. By working with District Attorney McMahon and our partners in the community, through this task force we hope to educate, provide treatment to those that are suffering, and ultimately reduce this crisis,” a statement from Borough President Vito Fossella read.
Authorities say that the opioid fentanyl — often in combination with other substances such as cocaine and alcohol — is linked to over 80% of overdoses on Staten Island and citywide, and xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, is emerging as “corrosive” killer.
“The Staten Island Fentanyl Task Force is unwilling to allow the drug epidemic to take a backseat in our public and political discourse, and is unwilling to accept that record-high drug overdoses are something that we must accept as an unavoidable American reality,” the report said in issuing its call to action.
McMahon and Fossella formed the task force in September in response to the overdose epidemic and their frustration that the governor established an Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention that did not include vital stakeholders such as community members, elected officials and families affected by substance abuse. McMahon reiterated the objective of the task force during Wednesday’s press conference as the following:
“To provide a comprehensive, diversified, on-the-ground perspective on strategies needed to combat this life-and-death crisis in our borough. And the goals of the Staten Island task force have been to facilitate a meaningful and comprehensive dialogue on the state of the fentanyl and opioid crisis and to produce real policy . . . and funding recommendations to city, state, and federal lawmakers for urgent implementation.”
A declaration of a public health emergency would give state leaders expanded authority to boost a variety of crucial health-and-safety measures concerning the overdose crisis. Similar mobilizations were prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence and the migrant crisis, according to the borough task force.
At least eight other states have already declared a state of emergency over the opioid crisis, including Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. The federal government declared a national state of emergency in 2017 that is still in effect that waives insurance copays and deductibles for New Yorkers attempting to access addiction treatment.
“We need fresh approaches to the overdose crisis, they are desperately needed, and they are really, sadly, in short supply,” Staten Island Performing Provider Systems Executive Director and Task Force Member Dr. Joseph Conte said. “While we are at this very meeting, two New York state residents will die, 30 people will overdose, in two hours. We desperately need a full-scale assault on this issue, and every part of society needs to be part of that solution.”
Under a state of emergency, New York could take immediate actions that the borough task force says should include creating a procurement process and making other changes to speed up the distribution of opioid settlement funds. Policy makers could move to waive application fees for counselors who want to work in the addiction-service system and adjust staffing requirements for service providers.
The task force claims that a state of emergency would enhance New York’s ability to share data about the overdose crisis across agencies to provide up-to-date information.
“The fact is, everyone has said this, we have not made the kind of investment, investment in will, investment in resources, investment in political will, to actually make a dent in what we’ve been doing,” said Diane Arneth, executive director of Community Health Action of Staten Island (CHASI), and a task force member.
“We have a long way to go and we need to have these recommendations implemented, including, specifically, the recommendation about declaring this a state of emergency,” Arneth added. “If this isn’t a state of emergency then I don’t know what is.”
The report claims that “New York remains in the dark and constantly behind the eight ball — an example highlighted by the growing presence of Xylazine.
“Xylazine was involved in approximately 20% of opioid-related deaths in New York in 2021 and 2022, but the New York Department of Health’s first warning was not issued until December 2022, and its first report on the topic in 2023,” the report says.
NEARLY HALF OF STATEWIDE OVERDOSES IN NEW YORK CITY
Estimates indicate that nearly 112,000 people died of drug overdoses nationwide in the 12-month period ending in July 2023, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
Preliminary data previously released by Hochul shows that more than 6,300 overdose deaths occurred in New York state in 2022, with nearly half in New York City. In 2022, 3,026 New Yorkers died of a drug overdose, a 12% increase from 2021 and the highest number since reporting began in 2000, according to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
More than 3,200 deaths due to drug overdose are estimated to have occurred in New York City during the 12 months ending in April of 2023, according to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for New York City.
While residents of the Bronx had the highest rate of overdose death in 2022, about 74 people per 100,000 residents, Staten Island had the second highest rate at 38 per 100,000, according to statistics from the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“Yes, this is a report from this task force, but this is not just a report, this is a road map to action,” McMahon said. “This is an action plan for advocacy. It is incumbent upon all of us here, and everyone in the Staten Island community, everyone who can hear my voice, to look at the points in this report, to advocate with our legislators, with our executives, with our decision makers, to see that as Diane said, if we implemented everything in this recommendation we’d be a long way down the road towards recovery for everyone who suffers from addiction illness.”
Key recommendations from the borough task force include:
—Stop the production and influx of fentanyl to the United States by urging the federal government to use every legal, diplomatic, military/law enforcement, and economic tool available to shut down the fentanyl pipeline that often flows from China and India to Mexico and over the southern border into the United States
—Heighten coordination between regional law-enforcement agencies and develop new enforcement strategies to disrupt the markets for fentanyl and other opioids
—Improve legal frameworks for criminal accountability
—Prioritize and pay for education and awareness campaigns and prevention programming in schools
—Expand access to community-based services intended to prevent overdoses and enhance harm reduction
—Invest in housing as an important tool to aid in prevention and harm reduction
—Ensure coverage parity for mental-health and substance-use disorders (SUD)
—Reform payment policies for behavioral-health providers
—Build a sustainable workforce and Infrastructure for SUD-and-Mental-Health care
—Use technology and data sharing to save lives
—Garner federal funding at the highest levels to tackle the overdose epidemic
—Obtain resources needed in the borough for those struggling with SUD
—Close medical and treatment gaps in our borough
—Provide immediate access to necessary treatment and compassionate care
—Improve transitional support
___
(c) 2024 Staten Island Advance
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
