ITHACA, N.Y. — On Saturday, March 18th, around 4:30 p.m., officers from the Ithaca Police Department and Bangs Ambulance personnel responded to a reported overdose in a drug encampment situated behind the Warehouse Carpet Outlet in a section of Ithaca known as “The Jungle.” The Jungle is a collection of makeshift campsites and dwellings on city and railroad land that are host to frequent overdoses, fires, violence and other illicit activity.
Responding officers initially had difficulty locating the scene of the overdose, which occurred near a large fire pit in the encampment. The responding officers administered two doses of Narcan to the overdose victim, who was subsequently transported from the scene by Bangs Ambulance.
The City of Ithaca is currently in the final stages of planning a designated encampment program called TIDES – The Ithaca Designated Encampment Site, as an attempt to control illegal camping on city land. The plan has been subject of criticism, with one local first responder referring to the plan as “Turning over the inlet to drugs eternally.”