ITHACA, N.Y. — Congressman Tom Reed blasted supervised injection sites Wednesday in a news release, saying they are part of an “extreme liberal” ideology.
Earlier in May, Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking for Ithaca to be a pilot site for a supervised injection facility. Also called safe consumption sites, in other countries the facilities are spaces where people can use drugs under medical supervision.
Related: Svante Myrick wants Ithaca to be New York’s fifth pilot site for supervised injection facilities
“Injection sites will bring an influx of violence, crime and homelessness into our backyards as dangerous drug dealers will naturally follow the increased heroin users into our communities,” Reed said in a statement. “Only an extreme liberal ideology would support these spaces, and I will not help these radicals in their effort.”
“I don’t want mothers to fear for their children’s lives as they walk to get onto the school bus, or for fathers to worry that their families will go hungry if they are mugged after a late night of work. I care about the hardworking people who choose to live in the Southern Tier, Finger Lakes and Western New York, and it would be unfair to them if we allowed their communities to become a drug pusher’s paradise,” Reed said.
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There are two routes in the works to bring supervised injection sites to New York. There is a New York Assembly bill in the works that, if passed, would create the legal framework for the facilities and give local municipalities the option to permit such a site.
The second option being considered was proposed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, which would bring supervised injection pilot sites to several neighborhoods in New York. Myrick reached out to Cuomo asking to be included as a pilot because he believes it would be more successful in the short term than waiting on state legislature.
In response to Reed’s news release, Myrick responded on Twitter that “Reed has no idea what he’s talking about” and “should be ashamed of the crisis that flourished on his watch in Congrss (sic).”
Featured image: Tom Reed at a town hall in Enfield. (Kelsey O’Connor/The Ithaca Voice)