Former NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has criticized the city for installing a vending machine that dispenses free crack pipes and Narcan, an overdose reversal drug, to residents who say it encourages drug use.
New York City health officials unveiled the $11,000 device in Brownsville, Brooklyn, earlier this month to give residents a supply of clean drug paraphernalia.
The machine provides equipment to smoke drugs, fentanyl test kits and condoms. There are plans to set up three other vending machines in drug-addicted neighborhoods.
Former New York Police Department Chief Bratton commented on the policy decision on Sunday, saying, “The world is upside down.”
He claimed that the vending machine allows people to stay on drugs rather than get off them.
Former Police Commissioner Bill Bratton slammed New York City for installing a vending machine that dispenses free crack pipes and Narcan, a drug that reverses an overdose
Health officials earlier this month unveiled the $11,000 device set up in Brownsville, Brooklyn
“Instead of trying to get people off the drugs, we now have policies where we have vending machines to encourage them to stay on the drugs,” he told WABC’s The Cats Roundtable.
“We’re going to make it safer for you to use drugs, so you can spend the rest of your life trying not to get off drugs, but to stay on them.”
Bratton claimed it would encourage people to turn to harder drugs.
He added, “What happens if you stay on drugs? You want the next high. You switch from marijuana… to heroin. … That’s the problem with addiction.
“There are never enough drugs, there is never enough high.
‘City after city. Condition after condition: this idea that we’re perpetuating your drug use instead of trying to get you off your drug use.”
The former police commissioner, who served two terms, also pushed for the legalization of recreational marijuana use in New York. He said it was a mistake and claimed it encourages school children to smoke.
“I was just on vacation in Italy for two weeks… I haven’t smelled marijuana for two weeks… Boom! As soon as you get back to it [New York]it punches you in the face,” he added.
Bratton believes officials have allowed the illegal sale of marijuana to get out of hand.
“They’ve created a climate where anything goes,” he said.
“The only positive thing about the red cloud we had last week is that we don’t smoke marijuana,” he said, referring to the thick smoke in the air caused by the Canadian wildfires.
‘Children of now 12, 13, 14, 15 can go there [marijuana]. It’s so readily available. If we sell it illegally in 1,200 stores across the city, do you think they care who comes to buy it?
“They don’t check for IDs. It’s a money trade. The city has completely lost control of it. The state has lost control of it.’
A ‘safer smoking kit’ with a heavy stem, mouthpiece, pusher, 6 screens, chore filter and lip balm for people who want to smoke crack
First aid kits with Narcan and nasal spray are also provided free of charge
It provides drug smoking equipment, fentanyl and condom testing kits and plans to set up three others in neighborhoods with a high number of drug addicts
A law was recently passed by Governor Kathy Hochul and the state legislature to increase fines for illegal sellers.
Bratton criticized New York’s move, saying, “This was a system created by political leadership.
“Our systems have been stretched to the breaking point [and] in some cases are broken. And the only way we can solve them effectively is through political leadership.”
When the vending machine was installed, city health commissioner Ashwin Vasan said it would help New Yorkers stay safer.
“We are in the middle of an overdose crisis in our city, which takes a fellow New Yorker away from us every three hours and is a major contributor to New York City’s declining life expectancy,” he said at the unveiling.
“But we will continue to fight to keep our neighbors and loved ones alive with care, compassion and action.
“We will leave no stone unturned until we can reverse the trends in opioid-related deaths in our city.”
The machine in Brownsville was empty less than 24 hours after being unveiled by officials and was quickly replenished the next day.
City health commissioner Ashwin Vasan said the vending machines stocked with drug paraphernalia will help New Yorkers stay safer
Local Minoshi Caple, 56, favors the machine. She watches her pick up her free fentanyl test kit. “People are just trying to get high, they’re not trying to die. We need this!’ she said
The words “bad choices” were chalked on the sidewalk directly outside the machine the day after it was installed.
A disgruntled resident, who could see the machine from her bedroom window, complained that it should be placed in the lobby of one of the auxiliary buildings, rather than on the street.
She also said it could be a danger to children walking by, who might think the drug paraphernalia machine is filled with candy.
To access the contents of the machine, residents simply need to enter the correct zip code. After that they have free access to the strips, Narcan, condoms, tampons, nicotine gum, first aid kits and the ‘safer smoking kits’, sanitary napkins, vitamin C and COVID-19 tests.