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Description
From the Stated Meeting of Philadelphia held Thursday, February 27, 2020:
Councilmember Maria Quiñones Sánchez (7th District ) discusses the importance of community engagement in fighting the opioid epidemic.
A
Thank
You
mr.
president,
I
want
to
join
in
on
counsel
in
school
and
I,
know:
council,
councilman,
Kenyatta,
Johnson.
We've
done
a
lot
of
work
over
the
last
decade
and
definitely
over
the
last
three
years
as
this
opioid
addiction
has
gotten
out
of
control,
and
it's
very
concerning
when
we
sent
competing
messages
or
contradictory
messages.
On
the
one
hand
we
want
to
meet
people
where
they
are.
We
want
to
put
D
stigmatize
this
issue.
A
We
want
to
talk
about
well,
some
of
us
want
to
talk
about.
The
injustice
is
about
how
this
problem
is
dealt
with
when
the
majority
of
the
folks
affected
were
white
versus
when
it
was
black
brown
people.
All
of
those
nuances
to
this
discussion
and
the
one
thing
I've
always
appreciated
it
about
councilman
fuller,
is
that
he's
always
been
open-minded
and
we've
attempted
to
be
very
open-minded
in
this
process.
I
was
practicing
harm
reduction
before
it
became
the
turn.
A
I
took
a
needle
exchange
program
that
was
in
a
van
put
it
in
a
building
worked
with
the
community.
We
educated
the
community,
we
informed
them
and
we
created
a
full
fledged
clinic.
We
asked
the
community.
We
have
a
homeless
addiction
problem.
We
worked
with
the
community,
we
have
many
meetings
and
I
can
tell
you.
Some
of
those
meetings
were
very
difficult.
Councilmen
to
school
and
I
sat
there.
We
took
it.
We
worked
with
folks
and
the
administration
promised
the
community
that
they
were
going
to
take
care
of
all
of
the
issues
around
the
respite.
A
Centers
all
of
the
community
has
in
one
way
or
another
in
their
families,
have
experienced
the
issues
around
opiate
addiction
having
lost
someone
in
their
lives,
and
they
told
us
okay,
okay,
and
we
promised
them.
We
were
going
to
take
care
of
them.
All
you
have
to
do
is
go
to
Kensington
and
Allegheny
to
know
that
what
was
historically
a
poor
community
with
that
has
always
had
drug
problems,
but
nothing
nothing.
A
But
what
like
we've
allowed
to
fester
there
I'm
really
concerned
when
we
start
talking
about
best
practices,
councilman
green
talks
about
this
move
to
medical
assistant
treatment
and
it
being
evidence-based
best
practices,
I'm,
usually
not
a
conspiracists,
but
the
pharmaceutical
industry
created
this
problem.
Now
they
spent
millions
of
dollars
on
studies
to
tell
us
they
can
fix
the
problem
that
we
will
now
give
them
billions
of
dollars
for
the
rest
of
their
lives,
have
people
on
their
medications
to
counter
what
they
did
when
they
addicted
them.
In
the
first
place.
A
Folks,
I'm,
usually
and
I,
said
this
a
few
months
18
months
ago,
or
so
in
this
council.
I
knew
this
conversation
around
the
safe
injection
site
was
coming
and
if
I've
said
from
day
one,
if
this
is
a
medical
intervention,
it
has
to
be
in
a
hospital
if
this
is
a
practice
that
this
administration
wants
to
support.
What
made
the
needle
exchange
program,
successful
and
and
I've
had
this
debate
on
radio
with
Governor
Rendell,
you
lead
it
you
own
it.
A
A
This
is
disrespectful.
It
is
disrespectful
for
an
administration
that
continuously
talks
about
Trump
and
how
the
federal
government
is
disrespectful.
It
has
lost
it
and
we
do
the
same
thing,
whether
it's
the
Northeast,
whether
it's
South
Philadelphia,
whether
it's
cuz
inton
people,
deserve
a
process
they
deserve
to
have
every
question
answered:
will
a
pregnant
woman
be
allowed
to
go
in
there?
Will
a
miner
be
allowed
to
go
in
there?
Will
people
be
allowed
to
leave
fully
drugs
and
get
in
a
car
and
drive
away?
People
have
the
right
to
listen
to
those
answers.
A
They
may
not
agree
with
us
at
the
end
and
counsel.
No
spoiler
and
I
know
most
of
the
time
80%
of
the
time
they
don't
agree,
but
we've
respected
them.
We've
respected
their
role
in
the
community
and
we
have
allowed
them
to
ask
those
questions
and
ultimately
again
focus
people
on
the
part
that
we
agree.
I
have
been
told,
I
have
blood
on
my
hands,
I've
been
told
all
of
those
things
and
we've
moved
away
from
that
discussion.
A
We've
moved
to
a
discussion
about
in
all
of
these
services,
methadone
clinic
clinics,
I
get
tweeted
that
I'm
the
methadone
Queen,
because
we
have
methadone
clinics
in
our
communities
that
I
have
supported
what,
because
sixty
percent
of
the
folks
who
visit
it
live
in
that
community.
So
that
is
not
someone
coming
from
outside.
That
is
your
neighbor.
Who
is
going
for
services?
We
need
to
be
able
to
talk
to
our
community
about
the
reality
of
this
is
lifetime
recovery
for
folks
right,
but
now
we
tell
them,
you
can't
smoke
in
recovery.
Now
we
tell
them.
A
You
have
to
take
m80,
it's
contradictory
messages,
and
so
over
the
next
few
weeks,
everything
that
we've
gained
over
the
last
few
months
has
gotten
blown
up
and
you're
going
to
see
divisions
with
a
racial
undertone.
That
is
extremely
dangerous.
When
you
have
a
president
that
we
continually
talk
about
who
has
divided
this
country,
be
a
leader
if
dr.
Farley
and
and
and
mayor,
can
he
want
this
own?
It
lead
it
funded,
accept
responsibility,
do
not
use
safehouse
and
a
board
of
private
citizens.
A
All
who
are
very
well
intentioned
take
all
of
the
responsibility,
for
this
do
not
say
that
it's
an
arm
length
relationship
that
is
not
leadership
and
that's
not
going
to
bring
people
together.
It's
going
to
create
the
kind
of
division
that
and
that
we've
seen
over
the
last
48
hours,
people
of
Philadelphia
deserve
better.
This
work
is
going
to
take
us
years.
We
have
a
decade
of
restoration
that
we
have
to
do
in
cousin
ten.
This
is
not
going
to
be
successful.
The
run
to
be
the
first
is
also
the
run
to
be
the
worst.
A
It
is
not
going
to
help
people
in
addiction
and
is
not
going
to
help
our
communities
D
stigmatize
a
lifetime
journey
for
folks
who
have
a
mental
health
disease.
You
have
blown
up
all
of
the
goodwill,
all
of
the
credibility
of
the
stakeholders
and
the
advocates
on
both
sides
of
this
aisle
I
call
on
safe
house.
Don't
put
yourself
in
the
middle.
Do
not
lose
all
your
credibility
around
aids
work
needle
exchange
work.
A
All
that
we've
been
part
of
that
I
have
been
part
of
for
20
years,
even
before
getting
into
Council
for
the
race
for
the
first,
the
residents
all
over
the
city
deserve
better.
If,
eventually,
this
becomes
a
model
that
we
want
to
adopt
all
over
the
city
to
take
care
of
our
residents,
let
it
be
one
where
there
is
a
process,
and
there
is
respect
and
humanity
and
the
discussion.
Thank
You
council
president
Thank
You
Councilwoman.