The 'Bronx Action Plan' dedicates 8-million-dollars to increase neighborhood addiction treatment services. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says another million will go towards an ad campaign warning about the dangers of fentanyl.
“We’re in the middle of a battle against opioids. This has gotten harder, not easier over the years, especially because of fentanyl. But what this city decided to do is take this battle head on,” de Blasio said.
City officials plan to double the capacity to reverse overdoses by distributing 15,000 naloxone kits across the Bronx before the end of 2018.
“The Bronx still has the highest rate of overdose deaths in the city,” said Dr. Herminia Palacio, City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. “There was a total of 363 people, individuals, real people not just a number. Mothers, daughters, sons, sisters, cousins, real people who died last year unnecessarily.”
The City’s Parks and Sanitation Departments will work together to clean up needles found in South Bronx parks.
“We have some parks in this community that have way too many syringes in them. A single syringe is way too many obviously,” de Blasio said. "But we see some parks that are really suffering and we’re going to do a lot more to secure those parks to address the needs of individuals who desperately should be in treatment, and also so those are clean safe places for the community.”