✅ WHO IS IMPACTED

Directly Impacted:

People who use drugs, especially those using in public, in isolation, or in unsafe conditions across Rochester and Monroe County.

Families and loved ones of individuals struggling with substance use disorder, who live with daily fear of overdose loss.

People in recovery, who know how fragile those early steps can be and how critical access to harm reduction services is.

Unhoused individuals, who often have no safe place to use and are disproportionately at risk of overdose.

First responders (EMTs, firefighters, police), who are repeatedly called to overdose scenes, often for the same person, multiple times a week.

Local harm reduction workers and outreach organizations like Recovery All Ways, who are doing everything they can but need infrastructure support.

Indirectly Impacted:

Neighborhood residents, who are concerned about public drug use, syringe litter, and the visible effects of untreated addiction.

Taxpayers, who shoulder the growing cost of emergency services and ER visits that OPCs help prevent.

Local businesses and community institutions, who see the effects of crisis in their streets, storefronts, and public parks.

🔥 WHAT IS AT STAKE

Lives: Monroe County continues to lose dozens of people each month to preventable overdoses. Many of these deaths happen alone, unwitnessed, and minutes away from help.

Public safety and health: Without safe spaces to use, people are using in bathrooms, stairwells, cars, parks, and leaving behind evidence of trauma for the rest of the community to navigate.

Recovery opportunities: Every fatal overdose is a lost opportunity for someone to access detox, MAT, housing, or peer support. OPCs are gateways to recovery, not alternatives to it.

Use of opioid settlement funds: Millions of dollars have been allocated to Monroe County from lawsuits against opioid manufacturers, if not spent wisely and urgently, those funds could be lost, misused, or returned. OPCs are one of the most evidence-based, cost-effective uses for those funds.

Moral responsibility: Communities are being forced to ask, “Do we value punishment, or do we value life?” Choosing not to act is an act in itself—and it costs lives.

⏰ WHY NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT

Overdose rates remain high in Rochester and Monroe County, despite broader awareness and available Narcan. We’ve hit a ceiling with current interventions, new strategies are needed.

Public health systems are stretched—and first responders are burning out from repeat calls. OPCs relieve pressure by handling those crisis moments before 911 ever needs to be dialed.

Momentum is growing across the country. OPCs are operating successfully in NYC and are being considered in other parts of New York State. Rochester shouldn’t be left behind.

The community is ready. Harm reduction programs are thriving at the grassroots level. Organizations like yours have already built trust with vulnerable populations.

Opioid Settlement Funds are here—but they must be used soon. The infrastructure and resources exist. What’s missing is political courage.

And finally, because the next name added to the overdose memorial wall could be someone we know. Someone we love. Someone we still have time to save.