In 2021, I was hospitalized with a heart condition caused by more than 15 years of drug use. I had been unemployed for five years and had no idea what the future would hold.
From my hospital bed, I completed an intake with Alliance for Positive Change after being referred by NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital. That connection changed the course of my life.
I received support from peers who understood my lived experience and could speak to me with a level of cultural understanding I had not experienced before. They met me where I was and helped me see who I might become. Today, I am completely unrecognizable from the person I was in 2021.
I completed Alliance’s peer training program, became a certified recovery peer advocate, and was hired as a recovery coach. Today, I am assistant director of Alliance’s Keith Haring Harlem Center, where I oversee case management, overdose prevention, and community engagement services. Alliance also inspired me to earn my associate degree and pursue a master of public health.
Today, on International Overdose Awareness Day, we remember the New Yorkers whose lives were cut short by overdose and recommit ourselves to preventing the next death.
For the first time in years, New York City has reason for cautious hope. Fatal overdoses declined from 3,056 in 2023 to 2,192 in 2024, reversing nearly a decade of increases. Provisional data suggest that this progress continued into 2025.
But we cannot mistake improvement for victory. We still lose a New Yorker to an overdose approximately every five hours. The toll remains particularly severe in the South Bronx, Harlem, and Central Brooklyn, and Black and Latino New Yorkers and residents of low-income neighborhoods continue to bear a disproportionate share of these preventable deaths.
The Mamdani administration has taken encouraging steps, including offering free naloxone by mail through its Just in Case campaign and investing $12 million to train and employ 500 additional peer specialists.
These actions reflect what frontline providers have long known: lifesaving tools must be easy to obtain, care must reach people where they are, and people with substance use disorders must be treated with dignity.
Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, can reverse an opioid overdose within minutes. It should be readily available in libraries, shelters, supportive housing, nightlife venues, transit hubs, and other places where an overdose might occur. More New Yorkers should also be trained to recognize an overdose and respond.
At Alliance, we see the impact every day. Last year, we equipped 2,793 New Yorkers with overdose-prevention training and Narcan, and 187 overdose reversals were credited to our Narcan trainings and behavioral health programs.
But naloxone should be the first step, not the end of the road. Last year, Alliance linked 3,649 people to medical care, substance use treatment, mental health services, housing, and other essential resources. Overdose risk rarely exists in isolation. People may also be experiencing housing insecurity, poverty, trauma, mental illness, HIV, or other chronic conditions.
That is why investment in peers matters. Peers who share people’s language, culture, or experiences can bridge gaps in care. By showing up consistently, they become part of the community and earn its trust.
I know this because a hospital referral and conversations with peers opened that path for me.
We must recognize New York’s progress without becoming complacent. More than 2,000 overdose deaths a year is not a success story, but an emergency moving in the right direction. Overdose is preventable, and New York City has momentum that we cannot afford to lose.
Teron is the assistant director at the Alliance for Positive Change Keith Haring Harlem Center.