Flowers used to symbolize preventable deaths
-
- April
- 8
  Members of the Drug Policy Alliance, the Harm Reduction Coalition, New York City AIDS Housing Network and others delivered nearly 1,000 flowers to Gov. David Paterson’s office this afternoon to draw attention to what they call an “overdose epidemic” across the country. In New York City, almost 1,000 people died of accidental drug overdoses, making it the fourth leading cause of death among adults after heart disease, cancer and AIDS. More people die of overdoses than homicides in New York City, according to the groups.
The advocates are supporting legislation they say would reduce accidental overdoses, including:
—A 911 Good Samaritan bill that will allow people to call 911 to save a life, without fear of being arrested. It would prevent authorities from using any evidence related to possession of a controlled substance that is obtained during the course of seeking medical attention.
—Removing possession of a clean syringe as a misdemeanor in the state penal code. Many people are arrested around syringe exchange programs for possession of syringes. Changing the law would encourage injection drug users to access clean syringes and reduce HIV/AIDS.
—Photos taken by Dan Osburn of GNS.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 6:09 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
