Keep Human Beings Safe! –
August 19, 2019 – The nonprofit Safehouse has its first day in federal court on Monday. The group wants to open an injection facility in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood where people could inject opioids under medical supervision. In February, William McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, filed a civil lawsuit against Safehouse, claiming its intended activities would violate the federal Controlled Substances Act.
At the judge’s request, Monday’s evidentiary hearing will be limited to discussing the services Safehouse proposes to offer and the nuts and bolts of how the supervised injection facility would function. “We’re grateful to have that opportunity to explain, hopefully to some, that it’s not as scary, it’s not as provocative, it’s not that different from what’s happening now at syringe exchange programs, which are permissible all over the country,” said Safehouse board member Ronda Goldfein, who is an attorney and executive director of the Pennsylvania AIDS Law Project. Representing Safehouse in court will be Ilana H. Eisenstein, with multinational law firm DLA Piper.
