Narcan Machines and BBQ Blues: Letters to the Editor June 7, 2023

Opinion

From Publish Readers

June 6, 2023 | 21:20

The problem: the city’s decision to put drug paraphernalia in free vending machines.

Now they were setting up mobile vending machines that handed out free pharmaceuticals to addicts (this is the sale, June 6th)? Who is Mayor Adams kidding? I voted for him.

God help us.

Schellie Hagan
Brooklyn

This isn’t April Fool’s Day, but the New York taxpayer is the butt of the joke here. Eleven thousand dollars for a vending machine that will be smashed in a few days and its contents put up for sale on the street.

Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan must see the sky in a different color than the rest of us. This tool for rescuing people with addiction just gives them free rein to continue.

If the alderman really wants to come up with a plan, start by attacking the issue head-on: find the money the de Blasio administration had for mental health issues and use it in a good way, instead of as yet another taxpayer burden gone wrong.

Dr. Ludemann
Bridgeport, Connecticut.

As a recovering drug (opioid/alcohol) addict, I can say that the only thing these vending machines will provide is endless debate, in this case between people who are stoned.

They will argue about whether extracting enough Narcan can give their high a boost.

Kathryn Ruskin
Boynton Beach, Florida.

All you have to do is get a visual of an addict overdosing, scrambling or his partner tinkering with the Narcan dispensing machine to realize the folly of such an absurd remedy.

The health commissioner should go back to the drawing board and do some more credible brainstorming.

Ronald G. Frank
West Orange, NJ

Vending machines for addicts will encourage drug abuse rather than prevent it.

This is a grave mistake made by this horrible administration; just like with the state legalizing marijuana.

The city continues to fall apart and all Adams is worried about is his next night out.

The federal government is shaking, as is our state government at every level.

The American people have, rightly, lost all faith in every level of our government.

Allison Luke
Rockville Center

The problem: A city crackdown on street barbecues as more crime runs rampant.

Anyone who has come up with the notion that eliminating barbecues will reduce gun violence is not qualified for their job (Throw a crimp on the barbie! June 4). This is an absurd idea.

How about addressing the real problem? Put the criminals in jail and keep them there for a long time.

Outlaw guns, period. If you feel you have to defend, raise your dukes.

If you are a sick individual who feels the need to hunt to get the stones out of you? Let me just say that the world would be a better place without people who think that killing animals is a sport.

Finally, dismantle the ANR. All cults are a sick thing.

Give Wayne LaPierre, Lauren Boebert and all the other Republican gunfighters the boot.

So make a real American barbecue.

Kreg Ramone
manhattan

Now I realize that lenient bail laws are not the problem when it comes to increasing crime. The real cause is grilling burgers and hot dogs on the street!

Fortunately, Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell’s new broken windows strategy to stop these barbecues will help reduce the crime problem.

William J. Carroll
Woodside