DOES HE HAVE A POINT? –
April 8, 2024 – Mr. Jones said a rehab facility would attract drug dealers to the nearby park in hopes of luring inhabitants of the proposed facility. “I’m not an assessor, but I would imagine if you were to go with that use, you would have every drug dealer from here to Kensington waiting for the rehabbed person to graduate.”
‘Congratulations on your rehab, come down to the park, I got a free sample for you.’ With that comes all kinds of other things I don’t want to wish upon that community.”
Critics of Jones’ bill say that using land use regulations to forestall treatment sites will harm Philadelphia’s most vulnerable residents and potentially drive these kinds of facilities to less accessible locations.
“Substance use treatment is critical for improving community health and is key to preventing overdose,” said Alexis Roth, associate professor of community health at Drexel University. “While the use of zoning laws to prohibit establishing treatment services in a particular jurisdiction may appear to be class and race neutral, the effects are not.”
