Pubdate: Fri, 26 Feb 2016
Source: Daily Review (Towanda, PA)
Contact:  2016 The Daily Review
Website: http://www.thedailyreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1015
Author: James Loewenstein
Page: A1

TWO BRADFORD COUNTY OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE OPPOSED TO ITHACA'S 
PROPOSED INJECTION FACILITY

TOWANDA - While the City of Ithaca, N.Y., is considering establishing 
a safe and supervised place for addicts to use their drugs, two 
Bradford County officials said they were opposed to the idea.

At Thursday's meeting of the Bradford County commissioners, 
Commissioner Doug McLinko said he was firmly opposed to the proposed 
facility. "You can count me out of that 100 percent," McLinko said. 
He said the facility would be "enabling drug users." Bradford County 
Coroner Tom Carman was also opposed to the facility. "Heroin shots is 
not the answer," Carman said.

Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick on Wednesday unveiled a new approach to 
tackling the city's drug epidemic, which includes a plan to explore 
the creation of the supervised injection facility.

"Rather than punish individuals and their families for drug use, we 
can expand services to tackle drug problems at the community level 
and adequately fund the range of health and social approaches to 
improve the health and well-being of individuals," state the authors 
of the Ithaca Plan. "We can create an environment of effective 
responses where drug use doesn't have to compromise the public health 
and safety of Ithacans, and impact the quality of life for everybody."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom