Here’s the city’s latest tactic to fight its deadly fentanyl crisis: suggest every New Yorker carry Narcan.
The Health Department’s recommendation surfaced after a 2-year-old boy was killed by fentanyl at a Bronx daycare and the city reported a 12% jump in overdose deaths last year — factors that make the suggestion for everyone to tote around the OD-reversing treatment seem as if authorities are giving up on actually combatting illicit drugs, critics said Tuesday.
“Narcan is critical — but to assume we should all have it is somewhat of a wave of the white flag,” said City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island).
Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said at a press conference after the tragic tot’s drug death, “You should be carrying Narcan right now.
“Narcan has to be everywhere,” Vasan said. “We have defibrillators behind every bar, in every business, in every public event. Increasingly, we have epinephrine pens, EpiPens, in public settings.
“Any time you see someone, walking past them, who looks like they might not be conscious, who might not be breathing, who might look more sleepy or tired than usual, think overdose, think opioid intoxication and think fentanyl,” the commissioner said, describing how prevalent the synthetic opioid is in the drug supply.
The Post previously reported on how fentanyl — a lab-made drug that is being pumped into the United States from Mexican cartels — has invaded nearly all aspects of the illicit drug scene in the Big Apple.
That reality was furthered Monday by the city’s Health Department’s data that showed another record number of opioid deaths last year.
In 2022, more than 3,000 people were the victim of fatal overdoses, a 12% uptick from 2021 when under 2,700 people died from drugs, the vast majority due to the synthetic opioid.
Last year’s tally was the highest figure since 2000 when the city started tracking ODs — a record that officials blame on fentanyl.
Darryl Phillips, a 48-year-old who created a non-profit that distributes fentanyl-testing strips, said providing overdose prevention tools such as Narcan is a no-brainer.
“At this point, it’s obvious we need a safe passage to public health and awareness involving city-wide access to adaptive social services and harm reduction tools such as naloxone and fentanyl test strips much more than we need any efforts continuing a lost and ill-conceived war on drugs,” the A$AP founder said.
Julie Stampler, who sits on the board of the Harm Reduction Coalition, called on the mayor to do much more to help reverse the tragic trends over the last few years.
“Narcan is like the fire extinguisher you hope to never use but if you need it to save a life,” she said, adding, “Narcan should be in everyone’s first aid kit. Should be available on public transportation and subway stations, etc.”