 So thank you everyone for joining us here today as we take an important step to combat the overdose crisis in New York City by helping to make sure that there are Narcan kits behind every bar. I first would like to do a special thank you to the Chelsea Music Hall for hosting us today, our council members, the Hospitality Alliance and Phoenix House. I am Ariel Palitz, the Executive Director of the Office of Nightlife, a dedicated non-enforcement liaison between the city and the nightlife industry and community to help support businesses and workers to improve quality of life, promote safety and uplift the culture. The safety and well-being of this community is a top priority for the Office of Nightlife and we know that venues are places where people can look out for each other and protect each other. And because of this, we created the Narcan Behind Every Bar campaign with our partners at the health department and as part of the overall harm reduction approach of New York City. And while the overdose crisis is not exclusive to nightlife, we see venues, staff and patrons as our partners in helping to combat this crisis. And now I have the distinct honor to introduce our Mayor, a man who truly appreciates and demonstrates the value of what nightlife contributes to our culture and our economy in a city that operates 24 hours a day. I hear from people in the industry every night about their tremendous gratitude to have a Mayor who unapologetically supports the commerce and culture of life at night. Please help join me in welcoming our Nightlife Mayor, Mr. Adams. I thought you were the Nightlife Mayor. To Councilman Jose and my good friend, Councilwoman Mercedes, as well, and to all of our team, Nightlife Leaders, Phoenix House, Nightlife Mayor, and this beautiful club. This is a city that never sleeps. And overdose, they never sleep. You talk to any emergency responder and they will tell you that the calls come throughout the entire night. And I think sometimes we underestimate the relationships of a nightlife establishment or a watering hole or a place where you come to celebrate the relationship between the patrons and those who work in the establishment. There are bonds that are built where you can identify when someone is in crisis right away, when someone is going through a state of depression, or when a person is experiencing some form of overdose. And by empowering our Nightlife establishment to be part of this apparatus to combat the over-proliferation of drugs, and particularly with fentanyl, the number of overdose that we are experiencing are substantial. And every partner should be part of the operation. What happens under the dim lights of a Nightlife establishment should not prevent us on shedding a light on how do we deal with the opioid overdose or any form of drug overdose. And our administration is looking at all the ways of doing it from the drug uses locations to doing preventive measures on stopping the overdose crisis that we are facing. And this is one of them. This is something I did when I was Bob President. We saw the power of Nakam. We saw how many times people shared with us how they saved the lives of a loved one or someone they knew that was going through an overdose. The overdose issue is real, is here in the city, and we're not going to ignore it. We're going to head it face on. And too many families know the trauma of watching a loved one overdose. And if they just had the proper tools to assist them during that time, it could save lives. What we're doing today is saving lives. In the first three quarters of 2021, there were over 1,956 overdose deaths in New York City. That's an alarming number, and we're concerned about that. That's an overdose every three hours. And while our overdose prevention centers have been successful intervening, 500 overdose since opening, 500, those are 500 lives we were able to save. We can and we must do better. We must do more. We must think differently about how we address the issue, and that's why we're here today. And I want to thank the owners of this amazing establishment for not only entertaining New Yorkers, but entertaining the possibility of how do we save lives and extend our reach to help those who are in need. So today we are doing just that. With this bill signing, today we will be saving lives. Intro 56 provides for the NARCAN to be used in a community known setting like this, the nightlife establishments and others. It is a medication that can be used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. And it's also education. And while Brooklyn Bar President, we educated family members. We gave them free kits to have on hand, and it allowed them to feel empowered and not powerless. Given our bars, clubs, and venues, the tools they need to deal with the unlikely event of an overdose really helps all the establishments that are involved. The presence of fentanyl in cocaine and other drugs, meaning New Yorkers who are using may not be aware that the opioids are present. That is really the danger of fentanyl. Oftentimes a user is not aware of the power of fentanyl and that is actually in their drugs. We want to make sure that these, those who are around or use drugs will have the assistance that they need and the ruckus in the environment will also be empowered. That's why we put in NARCAN behind every bar. So right next to the alcohol that's served, there's going to be NARCAN to help serve those who are dealing with any form of drug overdose. So I want to thank Speaker Adams, and again I want to thank both Councilman Jose and Councilwoman Narcisse and the entire team and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Office of Nightlife for their work in NARCAN behind every bar. This is a smart way to really respond to a real crisis that's in front of us. We are, we have seen a devastating rise in drug overdose in the last two years. We want to meet it head on and we want to be thoughtful in how we accomplish this task. So thank all that's involved. We cannot thank Phoenix House enough for the years of commitment and dedication on dealing with these very real issues that impact those who are dealing with substance abuse issues and countless other issues. Again, we thank the partnership. We look forward to continue to coordinate together, not only with our nightlife, our day life, and life in the great city of New York. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And now I want to introduce a great friend to nightlife in City Council. City Council Member Chiose who has been a strong partner on this issue and a lead author of this bill to codify NARCAN behind every bar program and to ensure that this work continues. Please help me welcome Council Member Chiose. Good afternoon, everyone. This is such a full circle moment for me. Prior to working in politics, I actually was a party promoter and worked in the nightlife industry. I was able to learn the ins and outs of a multi-billion dollar industry that keeps New York awake, but also provides many jobs for those that live in this great city. So some might say I swapped the New York City party with the Democratic Party and that's A-OK. The bill that is being signed into law today is the step in the right direction that we really need to be taking here in New York City. As you've heard from our previous speakers, including our Mayor, overdose deaths have increased in New York City during the pandemic. And now while every overdose does not happen within a nightlife establishment, it provides the training, the access, and the knowledge of how to prevent an overdose and save someone's life here in New York. This is a bill that is near and dear to my heart. When I was coming into the Council and thinking about what I wanted my first legislation to be, this one came to mind. A year ago, I lost a friend to a fentanyl overdose. And while it is unfortunate that that has happened to my personal life, that is not an isolated incident that New Yorkers are facing today. Not only do we see it on the streets here in our city across the five boroughs, but there are families that are losing loved ones to fentanyl overdoses. So we are taking a step in the right direction to provide the training and the access to naloxone, to Narcan kits, to fentanyl test strips, so that we can keep all of us safe, so that we can keep New Yorkers safe, and so that we can save a life and put someone on the right track towards recovery. I want to thank Ariel Palitz for all of the work that she has done within the Office of Nightlife. She didn't say this, but we're basically cousins. And the fact that this was an issue that you took headstrong within your role, I'm just so thankful that you were able to provide me with this moment to codify the great program that you instituted here in New York City. I want to thank Ann Marie Foster from Phoenix House, which is a great non-profit that does the work right here in my district in Bed-Stuy in northern Crown Heights, and providing the care that those that are suffering with addiction are dealing with. I want to thank Andrew Rigge from the New York Hospitality Alliance for really championing this bill right in February as soon as I introduced it. And I really want to thank our Mayor Eric Adams for really taking into account this step in harm reduction, a first in the nation type of legislation like this, and making it possible. So thank you very much, and it's just such an honor to be here. Thank you so much, Council Member for your partnership, your friendship, and taking the lead on this. And now I'd like to introduce another Council Member. She is also a champion in this city to promote public health and supports this bill. Please welcome the Chair of the Committee on Hospitals, Council Member Mercedes Narcisse. Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure for me to be here as a nurse for over three decades, work in emergency room, work in drug abuse rehabilitation center. It is a commonsense bill, I would say. I'm very proud for my young men here that have been part of the City Council when they came in and talk about it. I was excited because I know working in the ER, I have seen so many folks that their lives could have been changed. They would have been alive today if it was knocking all over, and all over our city, all over the place that it's supposed to be. So thank you Mayor Eric Adams for stepping up and signing today into bill. Thank you. And I'm looking forward, so as a Chair for Hospitals, we're not going to have cases that don't need to be in the ER. So people can save lives because the time that you leave the place that you are to get into the hospital, you can die to the process. So I thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is time for our city to think about all the inequities that we've been talking about. And when you're talking about nightlife, nightlife is here. People are going to be out there. And we know during this pandemic, this pandemic hit us hard, and there's an increase in opioid use. And then this is the right thing to do at the right time. Thank you so much. God bless you. Okay, so the time has come to codify this bill and get Narcan kits behind every bar and help save lives in nightlife. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Please let's sign this bill. This is the first bill. Give it up for Councilman. Dumbest person to pass the council. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.