Injecting Real Reform Into The Election –
August 25, 2019 – At supervised injection sites, medical professionals monitor for overdoses and provide clean injection supplies to discourage users from sharing needles and potentially spreading diseases. Staff also refer users for drug and medical treatment and other services to help them quit. The sites do not provide drugs. The Trump administration is currently suing to block what would be the first supervised injection site in the U.S. in Philadelphia, and threatening to block similar efforts in other major cities like Seattle and New York. But advocates say these sites, which are staffed with medical personnel and have been successful in other countries, would curb overdose deaths in the U.S. “For a presidential candidate to come out and publicly support it, particularly when the administration has a very public stance against it is significant,” said Lindsay LaSelle, director of public health law and policy with the Drug Policy Alliance. The case is in its early stages, but its outcome could have an impact on efforts to open supervised injection sites in cities like Seattle and San Francisco. If successful, Safehouse would be the first site in the country.
“Either way it’s decided, it will set the first legal precedent in the country,” LaSelle said. Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said last August the DOJ would meet the opening of any injection site with “swift and aggressive” action. But Sanders and Warren embraced the sites this week in their criminal justice reform plans. Sanders’ plan says he would “legalize safe injection sites and needle exchanges around the country, and support pilot programs for supervised injection sites, which have been shown to substantially reduce drug overdose deaths.” In her plan, Warren says she will “support evidence-based safe injection sites and needle exchanges and expand the availability” of drugs that prevent opioid overdoses.
