Residents are hoping legal action by the Trump administration will shut down one of New York City’s most notorious taxpayer-funded “safe” drug injection sites, which locals say has turned their neighborhood into a free-for-all of sex and drug debauchery.
Responding to ongoing complaints, the New York Post chronicled a recent visit to the street near an East Harlem site, run by the non-profit OnPoint. It reported a man and woman having sex in the open for 15 minutes as pedestrians “awkwardly walked past.”
“The guy was just doing his thing, just looking around, wasn’t afraid of anything,” one eyewitness told the Post. “I couldn’t believe it. I just could not believe it.”
The government-backed injection site is just down the block. There, users are given free “needles and other paraphernalia” to use their drug of choice. It opened in 2021 and was one of the first such privately-run operations in the United States. There is a second location in Washington Heights.
According to the Post report:
Since then, nonprofit OnPoint has hauled in a total of $16.4 million in taxpayer funds from the city’s Department of Health, with more than half coming from the Big Apple’s share of the opioid settlement funds from the Sackler family, who developed OxyContin — the drug responsible for causing the opioid crisis.
The nonprofit’s annual budget has blown up from $2.6 million in 2021 to $17.4 million in 2024, according to tax filings.
Proponents of safe drug sites argue that their “harm reduction” measures such as providing clean paraphernalia and a central location reduces overdoses and other medical problems associated with drug use.
Neighbors told the Post the operation has poisoned their neighborhood and it has only gotten worse.
“They have sex in our yards, they defecate behind our cars. It’s a mess,” Shkigale Baker, 69, who lives across the street from where the open sexual encounter took place, said.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) said she’s hoping the federal government can undo what local government has embraced.
“For years, I’ve fought to shut down these centers that have brought crime and deteriorated residents’ quality of life,” she told the Post. “Some are dangerously close to schools — including one directly across the street from a daycare. I’m hoping Attorney General Pam Bondi will take action to shutter these heroin shooting galleries once and for all.”
The lawmaker was referring to President Donald Trump’s executive order last month, placing such drug injection operations under investigation by the Department of Justice.
As Breitbart News reported, the order ensures discretionary grants for substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery [but] does not fund drug injection sites or illicit drug use.
Insiders told the Post this week that “civil or criminal action” is expected very soon.
“Americans deserve to feel safe in their cities and towns,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said. “President Trump is providing decisive leadership to protect public safety and end the surrender of our great cities to disorder, homelessness, and crime.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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