Title
Authorizing the Committee on Public Health and Human Services to continue to hold hearings to assess the City of Philadelphia's efforts, as coordinated by the Managing Director's Office and human services departments, to prevent and treat abuse, addiction, and disease related to the use of opioids; and to assess the City's response to the 2020 Restorative Investment Plan for Kensington Residents.
Body
WHEREAS, On January 25, 2018, City Councilmembers Maria D. Qui?ones S?nchez, Mark Squilla, Cindy Bass, and Allan Domb introduced Resolution No. 180037, calling for public hearings to insist upon a community driven public strategy for prevention, treatment, public safety, homelessness and neighborhood quality of life; and to review contracts and services by the City's public health entities. During the previous year, an estimated 469,000 residents used a prescription opioid, 150,000 needed substance use disorder treatment, and 1,200 died from drug overdose. During the same period, the City expended more than $2 billion through Community Based Health, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Public Health and the Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity; and
WHEREAS, On March 12, 2018; April 4, 2018; November 26, 2018; and June 26, 2019; City Council hosted hearings across the Kensington community, the epicenter of illegal drug trafficking, where massive open-air markets trap residents in their homes; where proven harm reduction organizations need resources to provide comprehensive medical care, meals, legal and housing support, overdose reversal training, and syringe exchanges; where children and their families suffer trauma upon confronting drug use, prostitution, and a lack of sanitation in public right of ways; and where neighbors have pleaded for the City to develop a more comprehensive strategy for public safety, drug treatment, homelessness, and restorative in...
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