The Academy works to identify and address the root causes of disparities in health among underserved and vulnerable populations as an important factor in all of our work. We conduct policy analysis, research and evaluation, advocacy, and education to provide evidence to decision makers and the broader community. The Academy has a long history of supporting harm reduction services and promoting policy and systemic change to address the needs of people who use drugs, a vulnerable population traditionally marginalized in health policy and the health care system.
Promoting a Public Health and Safety Approach to Drug Policy
Promoting a Public Health and Safety Approach to Drug Policy
In partnership with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Punishment to Public Health initiative, the Academy is part of a work group including the NYPD and District Attorney that is implementing pilots for pre-arrest diversion to social services for offenders. These and other projects of the work group are consistent with the recommendations in the Academy and the Drug Policy Alliance’s 2013 report, Blueprint for a Public Health and Safety Approach to Drug Policy, which calls for a shift from a criminal justice-driven to a public health-driven approach to drug policy.
In 1944 Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia commissioned the Academy to perform one of the nation’s first systematic studies to critically examine common assertions and prevalent beliefs about the purported dangers of marijuana. To mark the report’s 70th anniversary, the Academy and the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) hosted a day-and-a-half symposium in May to look back on the LaGuardia Report to inform a rich discussion of contemporary drug policy reform efforts, both nationally and in New York. The conference brought together leading academics, elected officials, policy experts, and activists from around the country to discuss the origins of current marijuana policies and explore steps that New York and the nation might take to further implement evidence-based drug policies.
On July 7, Governor Andrew Cuomo chose the Academy as host of the ceremony to mark legislation establishing a landmark medical marijuana program in New York State. More than 100 New York State lawmakers, health leaders, and patient advocates gathered at the Academy to witness the signing of this historic legislation. The new law includes provisions to ensure medical marijuana is reserved only for patients with serious conditions and is dispensed and administered in a manner that protects public health and safety.
In 2014, The Academy also actively supported legislation that passed regarding availability of the overdose-preventing drug Naloxone to friends and family of opiod drug users.
Integrating Harm Reduction into NYS Health Care Reform
Integrating Harm Reduction into NYS Health Care Reform
Through a grant from the MAC AIDS Fund, the Academy is currently assessing opportunities for the integration of harm reduction into recent health care reform efforts, including DSRIP and Health Homes. Harm reduction services include services like syringe exchange for people who use drugs intravenously, but have also expanded to include counseling, nutrition services, health services access, and more. The Affordable Care Act and state health care reforms focused on managing care and for for the most complex patients, many of whom have co-recurring problems with health and substance use.