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Several American cities are rallying around a new response to the opioid epidemic: safe spaces for using heroin.
The concept has gained traction in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and other cities across the US. The thinking is to allow supervised drug consumption sites where people can use drugs with sterile injection equipment and the supervision of trained staff, who are ready with the opioid overdose antidote naloxone if anything goes wrong. The sites may also link people to addiction treatment on request.
The idea: While in an ideal world, no one would use dangerous and potentially deadly drugs, many people do. So it’s better to give these people a space where they can use drugs with some sort of supervision. It’s a harm reduction approach.
The US Department of Justice, under President Donald Trump, has become a vocal opponent of supervised consumption sites (also known as safe injection sites, medically supervised consumption sites, and many other names). This year, the Justice Department sued Safehouse, the nonprofit spearheading a safe injection site in Philadelphia, to stop it.
On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that Philadelphia’s safe injection site did not violate federal law. The federal government argued that the site would violate the federal law by promoting illegal activity, citing the federal “crackhouse statute” that targets properties where drugs are used. Safehouse argued its goal is, in fact, to help people who use drugs and over time get them to reduce risky behaviors and perhaps get into addiction treatment.
US District Judge Gerald McHugh agreed with Safehouse. “The ultimate goal of Safehouse’s proposed operation is to reduce drug use, not facilitate it,” he wrote in his opinion.
The move means Safehouse can, barring appeals, move forward with its plan. It also signals to other cities that their proposals for safe injection sites may be on sturdy legal ground too.
