Page 35 - Sam Rivera News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Supporters see them as humane responses to a national surge in overdose deaths. Critics see them as illegal and defeatist.

Jose Collado settled in at a clean white table in a sunlit room, sang a few bars and injected himself with heroin.

Two modest rooms in New York City are the first places in the United States where local officials are allowing illicit drug use to make it less deadly. The privately run “overdose prevention centers” are equipped and staffed to reverse opioid overdoses. They are also known as safe injection sites and are a bold and contested response to a tide of overdose deaths nationwide. Supporters see them as humane responses to a national surge in overdose deaths. Critics see them as illegal and defeatist. People who use drugs there say the site are places where someone is looking out to make sure tha...

Supporters see them as humane responses to a national surge in overdose deaths. Critics see them as illegal and defeatist.

New York is combating opioid overdoses with places where people can use drugs openly — a first in the United States.