This month marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of an overdose prevention center (OPC) in Providence. The facility is the country’s first state-sanctioned OPC, which allows people to use illegal drugs under medical supervision. The goal is to prevent overdose-related deaths and to connect people with drug treatment services and other health care resources. Ocean State Media’s Mareva Lindo stopped by the center to talk with Ashley Perry, director of the OPC and deputy director of the nonprofit Project Weber/RENEW, which co-runs the facility.
How many overdoses has the OPC prevented in its first year?
Ashley Perry: We know that we’ve prevented, as of today, 93 fatal overdoses. But we have intervened in 176 interventions altogether, 93 of those were opioid overdoses. The other ones are most likely stimulant overdoses over ramps, seizures. All things of that nature. Oftentimes, when we talk about overdose, we are only talking about opioid overdose. We’re not talking about how people have heart attacks, we’re not talking about how people have seizures. So those things are really important. I am also incredibly proud that we just learned the other day that in the first half of 2025, fatal overdoses have dropped by 33%. Which is amazing. And honestly, when I heard that, I was just crying because I know for years, we work very closely with our state partners at the Department of Health, at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and I’ve always said this is like an unattainable goal to have our goal so high at 30% drop in fatal overdoses. But to see it happen and to know that we’ve played a really big part in that has really been amazing. For many people when they look at this stuff, it’s numbers. But for me it’s like, it’s family, it’s friends, it’s people who I’ve spent almost the last decade building relationships with and the hope that they could live their lives in a healthier way. And that struggle is so personal to me.
Do you feel confident in the state of future funding for the OPC?
Ashley Perry: I do. And I hope that our lawmakers also feel confident. You know, obviously, in 2028, we’re going to be back at the State House, lobbying again for this to happen. But you know, our numbers really speak to that. Again, they are just numbers. But we invite anybody to come here and really demystify what this place really is. And I’m really proud of our lawmakers who really made this happen. This is really a different type of care for people that I think some people are maybe scared of, you know, maybe scared of like what could happen if we care for people while they use drugs. But I have seen it be so transformative to people that I think that is what gives me that confidence is that I’m like, we cannot let this go. So I would say maybe a little bit confident, but also very determined.
A facility that allows people to use illegal drugs may seem counterintuitive to people. Can you explain how this approach helps people on the road to recovery?
Ashley Perry: So it’s not about the road to recovery, ironically. I think that’s what a lot of people think. But the reality is that we have data from around the world that people are 30% more likely to get into recovery who are accessing these services. Oftentimes, you know, for years I spent so much of my time working here, talking about stigma and doing stigma trainings for folks, and we know that when somebody goes into somewhere to seek help and they end up feeling like shit when they leave there, they feel like they were disrespected. They feel like people don’t care. They feel like they’re being treated this way because they’re on drugs. They’re not gonna go to treatment, right? They’re not gonna go to the same places that treat them like crap. We have to be very realistic about people’s journey to treatment. How do they get there? They have to go through a lot of different steps to get there here in our state, right?
So we’ve already seen that people do want a better life. People do want treatment. People do want to live healthier, right? But that should be up to that person of how they live.
Our recovery program is actually one of our more robust programs here, but I believe that it is because we do not put restrictions on how many times somebody needs to access recovery. So it’s not always about getting people to recovery. But I’m also very proud that we can offer that pathway if that’s what people want.
So, it’s not about recovery, it’s about safety and reducing the likelihood of people dying?
Ashley Perry: Absolutely. And you cannot recover if you’re dead. So that’s just a big reality of this. I remember when I first started working here, it was like people were worried about Narcan distribution. People were worried about needle exchange, people were worried about methadone clinics, you know, but these are critical interventions that, again, are meeting a community where they’re at. It’s not like we just moved into a community where these problems do not exist.
Some people in South Providence who live near Willard Avenue have expressed some fears about having the OPC in the neighborhood, thinking it could lead to an increase in crime, and or drug activity. How has the presence of the facility impacted the area and its residents?
Ashley Perry: Because we are our first year in and we know that, um, we know that for some people seeing drug users outside is like a little bit unsettling for them, right? This is definitely trying to continue to educate our community. Right. I think something that is so beautiful is that. Um, you know, this isn’t a center that just popped up outta nowhere. We’ve existed on the south side for many years, um, in a decade. Um, and part of us existing here was always to serve our broader community as well, right?
Like our, our part of our slogan is health, safety, and support lives here, but we want that to be health, safety and support lives here on the whole south side, right? The most kind of, not pushback but worry that we had from individuals was from our elderly neighbors. And something that I think is so beautiful is that we have a food pantry three times a week here, and we know that some of our elderly neighbors cannot make it here. The same people who they’re worried about like coming into their community, are now delivering food to their doorsteps. So really just being able to see that is changing hearts and minds around who we think drug users are, what we really think about them. And the last thing I will say about this is that we are being evaluated by Brown University. There’s many different facets to that evaluation, and one of them is, how has this OPC changed this community? So I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the research that comes out of that. But one of the early papers that did come out of that was that we have a 76% approval rate for our OPC being here by our neighbors, which is really huge.
