US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

 
    §  9-106  Legislative intent; narcotics treatment program. The charter
  empowers the council as the legislative body of the city of New York  to
  pass  laws  "for  the  order,  protection  and government of persons and
  property; for the preservation of the public health, comfort, peace  and
  prosperity of the city and its inhabitants."
    One  of  the  major  problems  facing  New  York  today, and one which
  involves almost  every  one  of  the  above  enumerated  powers  is  the
  narcotics problem.
    There  has  been  no  abatement in the seriously burgeoning scourge of
  narcotic addiction  in  New  York  city  despite  the  nineteen  hundred
  sixty-two  White  House  conference on narcotics and drug abuses and the
  nineteen hundred  sixty-five  Gracie  Mansion  conference  on  narcotics
  addiction,  the  enactment  and  administration  of  article nine of the
  mental hygiene law, and the various legislative expressions of  interest
  and concern on federal, state and city levels.
    It  has also been adequately demonstrated that the incarceration of an
  addict after an arrest and trial without a specific modality of  medical
  and/or social therapy, even with the involvement of multi-million dollar
  expense  and capital funding, offers no solution to the problem and even
  the establishment of  many  so-called  "half-way  houses"  dealing  with
  after-care and the social needs of the drug addict have failed.
    Sufficient  studies  have  been  made  to  determine that a program of
  treatment which blocks out the craving,  narcotic  hunger  and  euphoria
  associated  with  heroin is successful and by giving maintenance dosages
  of methadone hydrochloride as a complete substitute for heroin,  we  can
  start to drive down the rate of narcotics addiction in our city.
    Between  December  nineteen  hundred  sixty-seven  and  April nineteen
  hundred sixty-eight, the city prison at Rikers Island, was  used  for  a
  demonstration  project  for the use of methadone hydrochloride to combat
  heroin addiction. This voluntary  program  involved  twelve  hard  core,
  intractable,   recidivist   addicts,   with  multiple  arrest  and  long
  conviction records and it achieved remarkable results.
    One of the conclusions of  the  final  report  of  this  demonstration
  project  reveals  that  a  large  number  of  the  four thousand to five
  thousand  addict  prisoners  would  be  willing  to   accept   methadone
  maintenance   treatment   if  it  were  available.  The  applicants  for
  interviews in the  prison  were  so  numerous  that  all  could  not  be
  interviewed.  Letters from prisoners still continue to arrive requesting
  treatment.
    Despite  the  demonstrated  success  of  the  program,  it  is   being
  abandoned.   The final report reflects the reason for not continuing and
  expanding the program  to  realistic  dimensions;  that  reason  is  the
  unavailability  of  funds. This conclusion is difficult to comprehend in
  view of the multi-million dollar funding of other programs,  which  have
  neither revealed any new solutions nor have they demonstrated any degree
  of achievement.
    It  is  not  anticipated that this legislation will solve the problem.
  Hopefully, it will reverse the ever mounting spiral of heroin addiction.