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From YouTube: Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez Speaks on the Realities of the Opioid Epidemic 10-18-2018
Description
From the Stated Meeting of Philadelphia City Council held Thursday, October 18, 2018:
Councilwoman Maria D. Quiñones-Sánchez speaks on the realities of combating the opioid epidemic city-wide.
A
She
recognizes
Councilwoman
consensus,
Thank
You.
Mr.
president,
today
at
3
o'clock,
councilman
school
and
I
will
be
joining
the
mayor
at
the
Emergency
Response
Center
at
4th
in
Spring
Garden.
This
is,
after
his
declaration
last
week,
of
a
health
crisis
in
the
city
in
particular,
Kensington
as
it
relates
to
this
opioid
addiction
and
I,
want
to
thank
the
administration
for
heating.
Our
call
I
know
councilman
Scola
and
I
councilman
Dom
has
been
incredibly
supportive.
The
conditions
of
Kensington
we
are
in
the
eyes
of
the
country.
A
Just
this
week
the
New
York
Times
declared
Quezon
10
the
Walmart
of
heroine,
and
it
is
a
narrative
that
will
take
us
years
and
years
to
get
away
from,
but
the
conditions
there
are
very
similar
and
I
would
need
to
remind
people
of
the
80s
in
my
own
neighborhood
of
hunting
park
when
we
had
the
drug
AB
epidemic
and
at
that
particular
time
we
had
a
public
safety
strategy
of
containment
and
we
arrested
our
way
through
that
and
the
trauma
related
to
what
happened
post.
All
of
that
situation
was
never
dealt
with
in
quezon
10.
A
We
have
to
do
things
differently
and
I
have
been
one
of
the
folks,
the
most
progressive
folks
around
needle
exchange,
the
placement
of
of
clinics,
methadone
clinics
and
others.
In
fact,
some
of
my
constituents
in
catfish
town
call
me
the
methadone
Queen
for
being
responsible
and
how
we
address
this
play
across
the
city,
but
in
kensington,
poor
people
have
the
right
to
live
in
safe
and
a
clean
community,
and
that's
not
what
we
have.
A
This
declaration
is
a
step
in
the
right
direction,
but
this
counsel
and
this
administration
has
to
be
more
intentional
in
how
we
provide
a
quality
of
life
for
the
folks
in
cousin,
10
and
help
people
through
what
is
a
lifetime
journey
of
recovery
as
they
deal
with
their
addiction.
One
thing
is
not
more
important
than
the
other.
A
It
is
both
of
those
things
that
must
happen
and
I
continue
to
work
and
believe
that
our
behavioral
health
system
I
know
many
of
you
attended
a
briefing
last
week
from
CB
H
I
can
tell
you
that
we
still
have
a
lot
of
work
to
do
to
meet
people
where
they
are
around
treatment
and
services.
At
the
same
time,
we
have
to
be
responsible
and
ensure
that
we
are
taking
care
of
Philadelphians
and
working
with
the
counties
and
helping
folks
go
back
home.
A
We
can't
have
a
plan
where
we
are
going
to
say
that
we
have
housing
for
the
700
people
in
addiction
there,
and
we
can't
tell
residents
in
that
community
that
we're
going
to
be
able
to
provide
that
housing,
and
until
that
happens,
we
are
not
willing.
We
will
not
that
we
don't
have
the
political
will
to
break
down
these
encampments.
You've
heard
me
talk
about
this
often
I've
been
incredibly
frustrated
at
our
inability
and
unwillingness
to
disrupt
lawlessness
in
the
defense
of
the
young
people
that
we
are
traumatizing
traumatizing
every
single
day.
A
I'll
give
you
an
example:
Conwell
is
a
special
at
mid
school
high
academic,
achieving
school.
In
the
midst
of
this,
their
enrollment
decreased
by
almost
50%
this
year,
because
parents,
once
their
kids,
were
selected
and
visited
Conwell
as
well
as
much
as
the
active
programming
was
one
that
they
wanted
for
their
children.
A
They
were
unwilling
to
put
their
children
in
harm's
way
and
we're
working
with
the
school
district,
because
the
school
district
has
to
come
up
with
a
busing
alternative
to
get
the
380
kids
that
we
still
have
at
the
school
to
school,
and
we
have
to
figure
out
how
we
get
the
children
who
live
there,
who
walk
to
that
school.
How
do
we
get
them
to
the
school
safely
and
that's
a
difficult
task,
and
so
I
remind
folks
that
you
know
some
folks
have
said:
I'm
empathetic
I'm,
not
I,
have
buried
cousins
due
to
addiction.
A
I
have
an
uncle
who
is
in
addiction
that
the
entire
family
is
working
around.
So
when
people
give
me
numbers,
I,
give
them
names,
and
so
I
am
not
being
cold.
When
I
asked
that
last
stop
be
closed
because
they
have
people
in
addiction
sleeping
in
crates
and
don't
have
humane
conditions
for
people
to
go
to
the
bathroom
and
some
basic
needs
now
folks
will
say:
well
it's
better
than
being
in
the
street.
That
may
be
true,
but
it's
unacceptable
to
get
the
folks
in
that
community
to
continue
to
tolerate
this
stuff.
A
I
helped
open
two
respite
centers
in
cussing
ttan
I
have
now
called
for
them
to
be
shut
down
in
the
next
six
months,
because
we
have
been
unable
to
guarantee
the
public
safety
of
the
folks
in
quezon
10
and
as
a
result
of
that,
we're
killing
the
cussing
ttan
commercial
Carter.
This
is
not
an
either/or,
but
we
have
to.
We
have
to
give
long
term
residents
and
those
folks
who
live
in
Kensington.
We
act.
We
have
to
win
back
their
confidence
that
we
can
keep
them
safe.
A
But
I
can
tell
you
that
I'm
still
not
convinced
I'm,
still
not
convinced
that
we
are
willing
to
be
disruptive
and
do
what
is
necessary
for
the
resident
residents
of
Kensington.
As
all
these
safe
injection
sites
happen
and
I
had
the
pleasure
of
being
on
w/u
Rd
debating
governor
Rendell
who's
been
a
great
supporter
of
mines
on
their
quest
for
a
safe
injection
site
I'm,
not
the
person
who
has
said
no
to
looking
at
harm
reduction,
but
until
you
can
convince
me
and
I've
said
this
over.
A
We
are
now
going
to
give
away
the
drug,
and
so
he's
gonna
sit
in
a
panel
with
me
tomorrow
to
talk
about
how
Canada,
who
has
universal
health
care,
minimum
income
and
affordable
housing,
how
they
now
in
order
to
deal
with
their
overdoses,
are
going
to
give
away
húrin,
because
fentanyl
has
gotten
to
Canada.
So
folks,
I
appreciate
the
Councilwoman
bass
in
her
committee.
We've
had
many
hours
of
discussion
about
this.
We
will
now
be
hosting
another
session.
A
We
have
postponed
what
was
originally
scheduled
for
October
23rd,
to
give
the
mayor
and
his
team
and
this
new
declaration
and
opportunity
to
work.
The
mayor's
said
we're
going
to
do
this
for
three
months
and
things
don't
work,
we're
going
to
change
it
up.
This
is
not
a
cousin
time
problem.
This
is
a
citywide
problem.
A
This
is
an
southeastern
Pennsylvania
problem
and
it
is
a
crisis
because
white
men
between
22
and
50
are
dying,
although
it
is
important
to
note
that
there's
a
growing
number
of
Latino
and
African
Americans
we're
probably
going
to
lose
more
to
opioid
overdoses
than
we
will
to
shootings
this
year.
So
it
is
a
crisis
across
the
board,
but
how
we
address
this
issue,
it
is
about
race
and
economics,
and
my
community
and
hunting
park
who
suffered
the
trauma.
I
am
a
child
product.
A
The
reason
I
got
involved
in
community
development
and
hunting
park
was
because
of
the
drug
epidemic
and
hunting
park
and
Ethan
Butler.
In
fact,
my
first
march
was
when
Jesse
Jackson
came
into
the
city
to
talk
about
that
and
I
was
about
15
years
old,
so
I
have
lived.
This
and
I
am
outraged
that
folks,
on
the
Twitter
war,
the
foundations
and
folks
from
the
outside,
who
are
coming
to
tell
me
that
I'm
insensitive
I'm,
not
that
one.
A
You
are
not
going
come
into
the
seventh
Council
Matic
district
and
tell
me
that
I
have
not
lived
this
every
single
day
and
so
again,
I
want
to
acknowledge
the
administration
and
what
we're
going
to
do
today
at
three
o'clock.
I
want
to
ask
my
council
colleagues
to
be
more
engaged
in
this
discussion
because
remember,
Vancouver
has
26
sites.
How
many
are
you
taking
councilman
Johnson
exactly
so?
A
Let
us
be
clear
that
if
there's
anything
that
I've
demonstrated
in
this
council
floor
is
that
I
know
how
to
legislate
for
the
seven
and
in
the
best
interest
of
the
entire
city,
and
so
while
I
may
be
at
the
forefront
of
this
with
Councilman
scuola.
This
is
impact
all
of
us
and
the
strategy
has
to
be
a
citywide
strategy,
and
everybody
has
to
play
a
part
of
this.