OverDose Prevention Centers

Overdose Prevention Centers (“OPCs”) are a practical, effective, and needed method of addressing the overdose crisis that provides security, safety, and community to people who use drugs and their families. OPC’s are resource hubs where people who use drugs can go to have their substance use monitored by specialized staff who provide emergency overdose reversal if needed and practical harm reduction and safer use education directly.

Overdose Prevention Centers take people off the streets and out of the shadows by offering an alternative that is part of the continuum of care that is accessible regardless of their relationship with the idea of recovery. OPCs are the third place where people who may lack privacy otherwise are able to get off the street and out of the trap houses into the care of professionals who know how to help. OPCs are the alternative to crime that people who use drugs are so vitally needing. OPCs have been shown in places like Vancouver, New York, and internationally to lower crime rates in the neighborhoods that have them. OPCs can offer services to those who otherwise wouldn’t have any interest in seeking assistance. OPCs can keep people healthy by offering safer use supplies that are vital to preventing the spread of STIs like HIV and Hepatitis. OPCs are the last missing point of entry in Bernalillo County’s “No Wrong Doors” behavioral health system because they offer the only door that people who are not considering recovery would be interested in entering.