Mayor Eric Adams announced a push on Thursday for state legislation allowing the city to involuntarily hospitalize those struggling with severe substance abuse in public.
In the midst of his reelection campaign, Adams unveiled his proposal, called the “Compassionate Interventions Act,” during an Aug. 14 morning speech at the Manhattan Institute — a conservative think tank. The proposal seeks to give city first responders the authority to involuntarily commit individuals who are an apparent risk to themselves or others due to drug or alcohol use to a hospital; such commitment is presently not allowed under current state law.
Hizzoner said it is an “expansion” of a state law passed this year clarifying that city officials can hospitalize those who appear to be neglecting their basic needs due to severe mental illness. He has framed both measures as a lifeline to struggling New Yorkers unable to get themselves the help they need and as necessary to improving the quality of life in the city.
“As we look forward to a new legislative session in Albany, we are asking for your support of the Compassionate Interventions Act,” Adams said during his address. “It will help those caught in the grip of addiction recover; improve quality of life across our city; and build a culture of compassion instead of a place where ‘anything goes.'”
Adams said authority to commit belongs ‘solely’ to doctors, nurses
The mayor’s office said the change would bring New York in line with 37 other states that allow involuntary removals for those struggling with addiction.
Adams said the legislation would also allow medical professionals to seek a court order mandating substance use treatment if they deem it necessary following an evaluation.
“This authority would belong solely to the doctors and nurses,” Adams noted. “Responding to people in need, and it would be the single most effective tool in helping end the drug abuse crisis we see all around us.”
In order to become law, the proposal must be sponsored and introduced as legislation by Albany lawmakers in both the Assembly and state Senate. Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said that while the measure does not currently have sponsors in the Legislature, there is a “good amount of elected support and interest.”
The proposal also drew swift backlash from advocacy groups, including the Legal Aid Society and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU).
NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman slammed the proposal as part of the “same old playbook” of politicians who “arrest and coerce people” out of drug and alcohol addiction.
“Forcing people struggling with substance use into treatment will not deliver recovery to the person or real community safety,” Lieberman said in a statement. “Forced treatment can greatly increase the risk of a fatal overdose, raise serious due process and civil liberties concerns, and contribute to harmful stereotypes about people with substance use disorders.”
Lieberman also contended Adams introduced the idea as President Trump has taken over the Washington D.C. police force and deployed the military into the city in the name of cracking down on what he described as rampant homelessness and open-air substance use.
“It is lost on no one that the mayor is pushing this dangerous policy at a time when the Trump administration is cracking down on vulnerable people,” she said.
