Decades ago, we decided that cardiac emergencies shouldn’t be death sentences just because they happen outside a hospital, and that bystanders should be equipped to respond as quickly as possible. All around the country, AEDs were put in offices, airports, and gyms and trained people to use them. That decision saved lives.
This International Overdose Awareness Day, it’s time we treat overdoses the same way.
As chair of the state Senate Alcoholism and Substance Use Disorders Committee, and executive director of Partnerships for Community Wellness, we know firsthand the toll the opioid crisis has taken.
As recently as two years ago, the Bronx and Staten Island ranked first and second as the boroughs with the highest overdose death rates. These outcomes are the result of longstanding health disparities: both Bronxites and Staten Islanders continue to face deeply uneven access to healthcare, due to higher levels of poverty and some of the lowest patient-to-bed ratios citywide.
The picture has improved, but it’s too early to celebrate. Staten Island has dropped to fourth place on that list, but still relies on two private health systems and until this summer, did not have a single public health vending machine equipping members with Narcan. The Bronx still tops the list with residents dying of overdose at double the rate of Manhattanites.
The good news is we know what works. According to the CDC, a bystander is nearby in more than 40% of all fatal opioid overdoses and expanding access to Narcan can save at least 19,000 lives each year when a bystander’s nearby. When it comes to delivering Narcan, our city is already making strides. Between 2020 and 2024, the NYC Health Department nearly tripled its distribution to opioid overdose prevention programs, distributing more than 300,000 naloxone kits in 2024 alone.
Just like a heart attack, we know that every minute counts during an overdose. But, naloxone access remains uneven where people spend most of their waking hours: school and work. That’s where we in Albany come in: new legislation would require naloxone to be included alongside AED kits in emergency response packages.
The National Institutes of Health found a 121% increase in adolescent overdose deaths between 2010 and 2021, a sobering reminder of the impact on schools. Companion legislation would require school districts, public libraries, and other educational institutions statewide to stock opioid antagonists onsite.
For those of us on the ground doing this work every day — on street corners, in community health centers, emergency departments, and even in classrooms — these bills would put naloxone within arm’s reach of the New Yorkers most likely to witness an overdose, youth included.
Still, access is only half the question; emergency response tools are only as good as the organizations that stock and staff them.
That’s why we’re also calling for sustained funding through the Substance Use Prevention, Education, and Recovery (SUPER) Initiative, which would create a 5% excise tax on retail alcohol sales and redirect existing opioid excise tax revenue into New York’s Drug Treatment and Public Education Fund.
With unstable federal health funding, we cannot afford to leave harm reduction and treatment providers dependent on a lifeline that Washington could cut at any time. A dedicated revenue stream means the community health centers and peer support programs keeping people alive today will still be there tomorrow.
The overdose crisis isn’t over. But we can get through it if we give New Yorkers the right tools and the proper investment to keep those tools within reach.
Fernandez represents parts of the Bronx in the state Senate. Abbate is the executive director of Staten Island’s Partnerships for Community Wellness. She is a member of the New York Coalition on Alcohol Policy Alcohol Tax Committee.