By: Krug Stillo

New York City’s two taxpayer-funded “safe injection sites” are facing harsh new scrutiny after at least 46 drug users had to be rushed to hospitals in life-threatening condition — and nobody running the facilities can say what happened to them, as the NY Post reported.

The centers, both operated by the nonprofit OnPoint in East Harlem and Washington Heights, are marketed as “overdose prevention centers.” But internal records reviewed by the NY Post show that dozens of people suffered cardiac arrest, severe strokes, or violent seizures inside the facilities and were taken away by ambulance. OnPoint, however, keeps no records of whether those people survived, a lapse critics say borders on negligence.

Even the city Health Department — which oversees the experiment — declined to tell the NY Post whether it tracks the 46 cases.

Overdoses Increase as Usage Soars

According to OnPoint’s newly released annual report, cited by the NY Post, overdoses inside the facilities actually rose 7% from their first year to their second, climbing from 636 to 683. And the centers are drawing more users than ever.

In 2023 alone, 3,156 drug users visited the sites 61,184 times, up from 48,533 visits the year before — a 26% spike. The number of hardcore repeat users also surged, with 177 people coming multiple times a day, more than double the previous year.

Despite these troubling figures, OnPoint boasted in its report that it had increased the volume of visits and frequency of use, calling the trend “successful,” the NY Post noted.

The NY Post reported that visitors primarily smoke crack — more than 56,000 times over two years — followed by nearly 49,000 heroin injections. Users also snorted cocaine more than 30,000 times, while speedballs — a dangerous heroin-cocaine mix — accounted for almost 20,000 injections.

Speedball use skyrocketed at the Washington Heights location, jumping from 19% to a startling 44% year-over-year, according to figures highlighted by the NY Post.

Critics argue these centers simply enable drug dependency while masking the real toll.

“It’s something that does not work — scaled up,” said Manhattan Institute policy expert Charles Lehman, who told the NY Post the city refuses to measure outcomes because “the outcomes will not look good.”

OnPoint claims 14% of participants received some form of buprenorphine-related service, but the NY Post reported the vague statistic doesn’t specify how many actually entered addiction treatment. Lehman scoffed that it could simply mean someone “was handed a brochure.”

Neighborhoods Say the Streets Became Open-Air Drug Corridors

Residents living near the Harlem site told the NY Post that drug use, prostitution, and dealing have spilled into the surrounding blocks, with users often passed out on sidewalks during the day. Many say the centers have created mini–Kensington-style zones rather than removing drug use from public view.

The NY Post reported OnPoint received more than $15.9 million in public funds in 2024 — overwhelmingly taxpayer money — up from $6.5 million during the first full year the sites operated. The organization’s total revenue last year was $17.4 million.