“The findings, when they’re ready, could have national implications as we all fight the rising tide of overdose deaths in the U.S.,” New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said in a statement.

The study’s launch, which was announced Monday, coincides with growing public attention to a model that has for years been used in other countries to great effect. Last month, Sam Rivera, executive director of the nonprofit OnPoint NYC, which runs the city’s two overdose prevention centers, was named to the TIME 100 list of the year’s most influential people.

Yet the centers have seen little uptake in the U.S., where federal law makes it a felony to knowingly open or maintain any place for the purpose of using controlled substances. New York City’s two centers were able to open in 2021 because law enforcement agreed not to interfere with their operations or bring a criminal action against OnPoint or the centers’ users.

Rhode Island in 2021 became the first state to legalize the sites after Gov. Daniel McKee signed legislation establishing a two-year pilot program — although none has opened yet.

The NYU Langone and Brown researchers aim to enroll 1,000 adult drug users in New York City and Providence who have visited an overdose prevention center or used other drug-related services. Through monthly check-ins, longer surveys every six months and medical records, researchers will track participants’ health outcomes over time — such as hospital visits, incidents of overdose and enrollment in a substance use treatment program.

The researchers will also evaluate the costs to operate overdose prevention centers, their impact on the surrounding neighborhood and their potential savings to the health care and criminal justice systems. The funding will support that work, not the centers’ operations.

Rivera said OnPoint’s centers have reversed about 800 overdoses that might have otherwise been fatal. Assuming an overdose costs the health care system an estimated $30,000 — accounting for an ambulance ride, overdose reversal medication and emergency care — that factors out to more than $20 million saved, Rivera added.

If the findings corroborate the assertions by Rivera and other harm reduction advocates, the study could have substantial policy implications.

“As policymakers consider authorizing the operation of these centers in other jurisdictions, they can use this evidence to answer that question — whether these centers will be an effective tool to invest in,” NYU Langone professor Magdalena Cerdá, one of the study’s lead investigators, said in an interview.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul has taken a “wait and see” approach to the issue. Hochul’s administration last year refused the recommendation of a state-formed advisory board to devote opioid settlement money to overdose prevention centers, citing legal concerns.

“As far as a statewide policy, it’s something we’re exploring,” Hochul said in February after an unrelated event. “We’re looking at the limitations we have — because we have to follow federal law — and finding out whether that’s the best option. There’s a whole panoply of issues that we can look at in terms of trying to drive down substance abuse in our state.”

International research has already shown overdose prevention centers to be associated with fewer overdoses and ER visits and increased access to addiction treatment. But those findings are not necessarily transferable, because they reflect countries with strong health care and welfare systems, Cerdá said. The new study will determine whether and how the centers are effective locally to inform a public health-driven policy approach to the overdose crisis.

“We are in the middle of a huge crisis,” she said. “It’s important to take a compassionate, destigmatized approach to this and really to figure out what works best.”