The warm weather initiative began on March 30, according to a memo the Wu administration's Coordinated Response Team sent to the City Council on Monday. The CRT is an interdepartmental group that works to eliminate outdoor substance use and connect people suffering from addiction with treatment and recovery options.
Proposition 36, a state ballot measure, enacted harsher penalties for minor theft and drug offenses, with proponents pledging the crackdown would lead to mass treatment to keep people alive, out of jail, and off our streets. Case records, however, suggest the state is largely failing to meet the central goal of getting people help and instead conducting mass arrests and incarcerating more people with addiction.
It felt like I had a needle through my back, and it was coming out my front, and I couldn't twist past it. Your mental health is affected. You get brain fog, you're tired, you're fatigued. You can't function as a woman and that's every day for 10 years.
Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant medication that is FDA approved for the treatment of seizure disorders and postherpetic neuralgia-a chronic, often debilitating, nerve pain syndrome often linked to shingles. It is classified as an anticonvulsant and a GABA analogue, meaning it mimics the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which normally reduces nerve excitability.
By creating one of the nation's first state health departments, lawmakers and elected officials in 1901 were taking a leadership role in public health that continues to this day. Take the issue of heart health: Just last month, Governor Hochul unveiled a budget proposal that makes major investments in our fight against cardiovascular disease. Healthy hearts start with healthy diets, which is why Governor Hochul included over $100 million for nutrition programs, food banks and food pantries in the Executive Budget.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced the expansion of its peer-led overdose prevention program, Relay, to a 16th location at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center. Data indicate a declining trend in overdose deaths, with 441 confirmed cases reported in the early months of 2025-the lowest since 2020. This follows a decrease from 3,056 deaths in 2023 to 2,192 in 2024, according to the City of New York.