Bring a legally protected, adequately funded Overdose Prevention Center to Rochester and Monroe County.
Every person deserves the chance to survive an overdose, be treated with dignity, and find support without shame or judgment. Recovery All Ways is calling on Monroe County, the City of Rochester, and New York State to work together on a clear, accountable path toward an Overdose Prevention Center.
This is not about approving or condemning drug use. It is about keeping people alive. Recovery remains possible only while someone is still here.
Call Recovery All Ways at 3100-RAW (585-310-0729). If someone may be experiencing an overdose, call 911 immediately, give naloxone if available, and stay with the person until help arrives.
Several important developments are moving at the same time. They are connected, but they are not interchangeable. Advisory recommendations, state legislation, local settlement decisions, and federal funding policy each require their own follow-through.
On September 29, New York's Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board approved a recommendation that settlement funds provide financial support for Overdose Prevention Centers. The board also recommended continued support for drug checking, statewide drug user health hubs, and related overdose-response work.
Read the September 29 meeting minutesThe bills that would authorize Overdose Prevention Centers in New York remain in the Senate and Assembly Health Committees. The official bill pages did not show committee or floor votes at this review.
Track S.7617The comment window is closing soon.
HUD is requesting public input on activities it proposes to incentivize through the Continuum of Care program. People and organizations concerned about homelessness, recovery, and evidence-based care can review the notice and submit a comment.
Review the Notice and CommentNew York requires counties and municipalities receiving local opioid settlement funds to publish information about how those funds are used. At our October 9 review, the state's Direct Share page listed both Monroe County and the City of Rochester without reporting links.
Check the state Direct Share pageThe advisory board's action is meaningful progress. It does not itself authorize OPCs, appropriate money, guarantee an award, or replace the need for state and local decisions. Its recommendations address priorities for New York's state settlement fund. They do not control how Rochester or Monroe County use their separate local Direct Share funds.
An OPC should be one part of a broader public-health system that includes naloxone, sterile supplies, drug checking, treatment access, wound care, housing support, peer services, and pathways to recovery.
Trained staff can identify an overdose quickly, administer naloxone or oxygen when needed, and call emergency medical help.
People can receive sterile supplies, health care, referrals, peer support, and voluntary connections to treatment without being required to enter recovery first.
OPCs can reduce public drug use and discarded supplies while bringing health and social services closer to people at highest risk.
We want Monroe County, the City of Rochester, New York State, service providers, neighborhood stakeholders, and people with lived experience to develop an evidence-based, transparent, and legally protected OPC plan for our community.
An Overdose Prevention Center is a supervised health setting where people can use previously obtained drugs under the observation of trained staff who can respond to an overdose. OPCs do not sell or provide illegal drugs.
New York City and Rhode Island offer two different U.S. examples that local and state leaders can study while building a model suited to Rochester and Monroe County.
OnPoint NYC reported in May 2026 that its two centers had intervened in more than 2,000 overdoses since opening in November 2021, with no deaths at the sites. Its programs also connect participants with health, behavioral health, and social services.
Read OnPoint NYC's May 2026 updateRhode Island reports one licensed Harm Reduction Center operating in Providence through Project Weber/RENEW. The state created a licensing and regulatory path that New York leaders can examine.
See Rhode Island's OPC informationNo. Participants bring substances they already possess. The center provides supervision, overdose response, sterile supplies, safer-use information, and connections to care.
No. An OPC is one part of a continuum. It keeps people alive, creates repeated contact with trusted staff, and offers voluntary pathways to treatment, recovery support, health care, housing, and other services.
Peer-reviewed studies of New York City's first OPCs did not find statistically significant increases in violent crime, property crime, relevant 911 calls, relevant 311 calls, nearby foot traffic, or in-person consumer spending after the sites opened. Every location still needs strong operations, neighborhood communication, and public reporting.
New York has operating centers in New York City, but statewide authorization remains unfinished. S.7617 and A.4916 are intended to establish a clearer legal framework. The September 29 advisory-board recommendation supports funding but does not enact that framework.
Careful planning can begin now. Local leaders can engage service providers, people with lived experience, public-health experts, emergency responders, and neighborhoods; identify service gaps; assess possible funding; and build a plan that is ready when the legal path is clear.
No single study answers every implementation question. Taken together, the research supports OPCs as a practical overdose-prevention intervention and does not support claims that the New York City sites caused broad neighborhood harm.
In their first two months, New York City's centers recorded 5,975 visits by 613 participants and managed 125 overdose or overamping events without a death. More than half of participants received at least one additional service.
JAMA Network Open, 2022A 2023 study found no significant changes in violent crime, property crime, relevant 911 calls, or relevant 311 calls near the New York City sites after opening.
JAMA Network Open, 2023A 2026 study found no statistically significant changes in pedestrian traffic or in-person consumer spending near the New York City centers.
JAMA Network Open, 2026Reviews of supervised consumption services have found benefits that include safer use, overdose response, service engagement, and reduced public-use harms, while emphasizing the importance of local implementation.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2014Short, respectful messages matter. Tell leaders that Rochester and Monroe County need a transparent OPC plan, and that New York must finish the legal and funding work required to make it possible.
Add your name to the call for an Overdose Prevention Center in Rochester and Monroe County, then share it with neighbors, providers, recovery communities, and local organizations.
Sign the PetitionAsk county leaders to participate in a public OPC planning process, coordinate with the City and state, and publish any related settlement-fund decisions.
Phone: 585-753-1000
Email: countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov
General phone: 585-753-1950
Legislature President Yversha Román: 585-753-1908
Ask city leaders to explain the status of local OPC planning, coordinate with Monroe County, and make funding and implementation decisions visible to the public.
Phone: 585-428-7045
Phone: 585-428-7538
State action now has two connected parts: move S.7617 and A.4916 out of committee, and respond to the September 29 advisory-board recommendation with a transparent funding path that includes upstate communities.
Senate bill S.7617 remains in the Health Committee. Rochester-area senators Jeremy Cooney and Samra Brouk are listed as cosponsors.
View S.7617Assembly bill A.4916 remains in the Health Committee. Rochester-area Assemblymembers Demond Meeks and Sarah Clark are listed as cosponsors.
View A.4916Phone: 518-474-8390
Ask the Governor to support a statewide legal framework, act on the advisory board's funding recommendation, and include Rochester and other upstate communities in implementation planning.
Personalize these messages with your own experience or reason for caring. You do not need to be an expert to ask for evidence-based policy, transparency, and urgent action.
An OPC cannot carry the whole response. Rochester and Monroe County also need accessible services that meet people where they are and remain available before, during, and after a crisis.
Whether OASAS, the Department of Health, the Governor, and the Legislature turn the September 29 recommendation into a defined, equitable funding opportunity for OPCs and related harm reduction.
Committee agendas, hearings, votes, amendments, and any other steps toward a statewide legal framework.
Whether Rochester and Monroe County establish a public planning process, how local settlement funds are considered, and whether a previously identified $500,000 OPC start-up estimate remains active.
Whether Rochester and Monroe County publish complete, accessible information about their local opioid settlement funds by the state transparency deadline.
Changes that could affect housing, homelessness services, substance-use care, and the ability of local programs to use evidence-based approaches.
Updated results from OnPoint NYC, Rhode Island's regulated center, other U.S. jurisdictions, and peer-reviewed research.
Recovery All Ways can help connect people with naloxone, harm reduction supplies, peer support, treatment navigation, and recovery resources in the Rochester area.
If someone may be experiencing an overdose, call 911, give naloxone if available, and stay until help arrives.
In July 2026, RAW encouraged public comments on a federal Request for Information concerning homelessness, substance use, treatment, and recovery. That comment period is now closed. The October 13 HUD notice listed in the campaign-status section is a separate, current opportunity.
See RAW's active policy campaigns, deadlines, and ways to contact decision-makers.
Visit the HubFollow local settlement spending, transparency deadlines, and treatment-access advocacy.
View the Settlement PageSupport federal reforms that can make lifesaving medication easier to reach.
View Methadone AdvocacyRAW reviews official policy records and research regularly. Links, bill status, deadlines, and contact information can change. Please confirm time-sensitive details on the linked official pages.
Sign the petition, contact local and state leaders, and ask for a public plan that turns evidence and recommendations into lifesaving action.