than 100,000 drug overdosed deaths in a 12-month period. now new york city is taking a controversial step to save lives jacob soboroff with our nbc news exclusive. >> reporter: since the beginning of last week, inside that facility across the street, the city of new york allowed people to use illegal drugs like heroin and fentanyl under the supervision of a professional to stop them from dying of an overdose. sam rivera is the facility's executive director >> some people might call it crazy. i use a different c word to be courageous enough to do this and we're seeing already 17 lives reversed. come on. >> reporter: 17 people overdosed since you opened last week. >> all of them survived. >> reporter: as kaitlyn took us on a tour of the number of lives saved grew by one. so an overdose happened just now? >> yes it is 100% reversible. >> reporter: new york city, a physician says opening the facility is based on science. have you talked to the