Drug strategy agency mixing health, safety proposed in NYC
A new drug policy agency would focus as much on health as on policing under a proposal a lawmaker plans to formally introduce Thursday to shift how the nation’s biggest city approaches illegal drug use.
The drug strategy office would advise city leaders on lowering drug-related deaths and disease along with crime. It also would coordinate answers to a problem that sometimes seems to pit one set of government objectives against another, supporters say.
Advocates say it would be one of few local agencies of its kind nationwide, and New York’s size would make it a showcase for less punitive, more public-health-minded drug policies.
“It’s about getting people treatment and also ensuring that we have high standards for public safety,” said Councilmember Corey Johnson, who heads the health committee that likely would give the proposal a first-round consideration.