Hochul spending $12.5M on ‘harm reduction’ programs that critics say enables junkies

The Hochul administration is earmarking $4.5 million for “harm-reduction” strategies to combat New York’s opioid epidemic. Stephen Yang

The Hochul administration is pumping another $4.5 million into so-called “harm-reduction” strategies to deal with New York’s opioid epidemic – for an eye-popping of $12.5 million in public funds this year on programs critics say enable junkies and encourage addiction.

The state Office of Addiction Services and Support began soliciting proposals last month from nonprofits seeking a piece of the $4.5 million pot, with 15 expected to be paid up to $300,000 spread over three years to develop and continue “harm reduction service projects statewide.”

Two months earlier, Hochul announced the state Health Department was spending another $8 million on needle-exchange programs, vending machines stocked with free crack pipes and other lefty harm-reduction strategies. By May, the state plans to dole out two year-contracts totaling up to $300,000 each to nonprofits specializing in such services.

State Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Staten Island) said the programs aren’t only a waste of public money but — even worse — could have deadly results.

“These are all things that condone drug use,” said Pirozzolo. “The goal here is to get people off of drugs, so they need a treatment center, a place where they can go that helps them learn not to use opioids. We need providers that do that. Anything else is furthering addiction.”

Gov. Hochul announced earlier this year the state Health Department was spending $8 million on lefty harm-reduction strategies.

Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

Enough is enough, agreed state Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Pulaski).

“We’re losing lives to an opioid and overdose crisis,” he said. “Albany Democrats shouldn’t be spending millions to enable more illegal drug use.”

Angel Figueroa, a former addict who works down the street from a Midtown nonprofit that provides clean needles and similar services, said Hochul is “playing Russian Roulette with people’s lives.”

A former addict said Hochul is “playing Russian Roulette with people’s lives” by funding needle exchanges and similar services.

Carlo Romero

“You wanna get somebody off drugs? You do not give them a clean needle, a crack pipe! You put them in a [treatment] facility,” Figueroa, 55, said. “All you’re doing is enabling them.”

The new contracts are being funded through more than $2 billion in settlements the state has secured from opioid manufacturers — as it experiences an all-time high in drug overdoses.

In November 2021, during his final weeks in office, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio opened the nation’s first two supervised injection sites in Manhattan, a move he and other progressive pols contended would help curb rising overdose deaths.

The new contracts for harm-reduction services are being funded with settlement money secured from opioid manufacturers.

Stephen Yang

The sites – located in East Harlem and Washington Heights and run by OnPointNYC – remain the only overdose prevent centers in New York.

Although Hochul earlier this month said she opposes using the settlement money to open additional supervised injection sites statewide, Charles Fain Lehman, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, said there’s no way of knowing that money earmarked for harm reduction won’t wind up at the controversial shooting galleries.

“Public funds are fungible,” he said. “If I give public dollars to a service provider that’s running a safe injection site, you’re giving money to a safe injection site, even if it’s not earmarked for that purpose.”

Mayor Adams has said he hopes to have at least three others running in the city by 2025.

One critic said there’s no way of knowing that money earmarked for harm reduction won’t wind up at the shooting galleries.

J.C. Rice

Hochul’s office did not return messages.

Health Department Commissioner James McDonald said his agency is still reviewing applications from nonprofits seeking a piece of its $8 million in harm-reduction contracts, adding funds will go towards “medications to treat addiction, supportive counseling, and other preventative health care services.”