The site opened on December 10 in Providence. As Filter has reported, it’s run by local harm reduction nonprofit Project Weber/Renew and its clinical partner VICTA, which provides substance use treatment and behavioral health services.

In addition to welcoming people to use drugs on-site—in injection or inhalation booths, with overdose prevention resources like naloxone and trained staff on hand—the facility offers sterile syringes, fentanyl test strips and other harm reduction supplies. Located near the Rhode Island Hospital campus, in the same building as the nonprofit’s drop-in center, the model of “wraparound support” includes food, showers, laundry facilities and referrals for housing and a range of other resources.

“It’s just a place to keep people safe, prevent deaths, and connect people to services,” said Dennis Bailer, the organization’s overdose prevention program director.

OPC unequivocally save lives. Two sites in New York City—sanctioned by the city, rather than the state —were the first to open in the US, in late 2021. Their operator, OnPoint NYC, currently reports almost 1,700 overdoses averted, with no deaths.

It took much advocacy and pressure for Rhode Island to get here. Back in 2021, harm reduction advocates secured an historic victory as state lawmakers and Governor Dan McKee (D) approved legislation to establish OPC—a first among US states. Revising plans and winning local approval took another three years. Only in February did Providence City Council give the green light.

The Rhode Island launch is a milestone. But many other countries began rolling out OPC years or even decades ago.

The facility is benefiting from public funding: The state allocated $2.6 million to support it, from opioid settlement funds with pharmaceutical companies. Technically a pilot program, the OPC will “sunset” by March 2026 unless officials agree to extend it.

Meanwhile, the federal government is funding two studies, in Providence and New York, on how the OPC affect drug use, public costs, and overdose rates. Brown University, in Providence, was awarded part of this four-year, $5 million grant, and will enroll Providence OPC clients as participants.

The Rhode Island launch is a milestone in the US. Yet the nation lags far behind many others in terms of OPC rollout, thanks to political, social and legal resistance to US efforts.

In California, for instance, state lawmakers backed an OPC pilot program, approving legislation in 2022. But at the last minute, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed the bill, breaking a previous promise. And in Philadelphia, a harm reduction group seeking to open an OPC has been locked in a years-long court battle with the federal government.

No overdose death has ever been recorded at overdose prevention centers, which are known by various other names and acronyms. The US total of authorized OPC now climbs to three, but many other countries began rolling them out years or even decades ago. Here is a non-exhaustive list of examples:

Switzerland: The first OPC opened in the city of Bern in 1986. Despite doubts from some elected officials, it was approved by the state and publicly funded, at a time when drug use was highly visible in the city’s downtown and an HIV crisis demanded action. Over 30 years, the center has averted over 1,000 overdoses. The effectiveness of this approach led to additional centers opening in Basel and Zurich. Later, the Bern site expanded to include methadone provision and heroin-assisted treatment.

Germany: Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a newly reunited Germany was among the early European nations to open OPC. In 1994 the first authorized site opened in Frankfurt. But it wasn’t until 2000 that this was formally enshrined in law—after the German parliament passed an amendment to its federal narcotics law, setting regulations for OPC and instructing provinces on how they could authorize the sites. According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, there were 24 sites in 15 German cities as of 2018.

The past struggle in Germany resembled that in the US decades later. Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, unauthorized “health rooms” enabled people to use drug and also access harm reduction supplies. It created a kind of absurd scenario: a health room in a remodeled bus in Hamburg welcomed people to use drugs safely, alongside posted warnings that prohibited drug use. A breakthrough came in 1993 when a former drug enforcement official presented a legal opinion to a Frankfurt city panel, supporting the idea of OPC.

The Netherlands: Like Switzerland, the Netherlands also experienced widespread public drug use and surging injection-related HIV transmissions in the 1980s. As BOLTS described, an estimated one in four people injecting drugs at the time had HIV. Drug users took matters into their own hands, giving out sterile syringes and methadone and started initiatives like Mainline magazine. Thanks to their education efforts, even law enforcement would become part of the coalition pushing for harm reduction measures.

The Netherlands first authorized OPC in 1996. Two decades later, the country had 37 sites in 25 cities, more than any other nation.

Spain: The first OPC in Spain opened in 2000, in Madrid. That was followed by a site in Barcelona in 2002. To this day, Spain has not formally legalized or regulated OPC, but low-level drug possession is decriminalized there.

Canada: North America’s first authorized OPC opened back in 2003: InSite, operating in Vancouver, British Columbia. Surging drug-related deaths in the city’s Downtown Eastside had provided the impetus. In over two decades in operation, no overdose at the site has been fatal. Today, there are 39 sanctioned supervised injection sites throughout Canada, as more provinces and cities have taken steps to open them. But a backlash against harm reduction has been gathering momentum. The provincial government in Ontario just passed a new law that will shut down at least 10 of these lifesaving sites.

Norway: Norway was the first Scandinavian country to allow OPC, though only in limited circumstances. Thanks to a special provision passed by the parliament in 2004, an OPC opened in Oslo in 2005. It wasn’t until 2016 that a second site opened, in Bergen. The sites only allow heroin injection. And somewhat uniquely, trained staff there do not administer naloxone in overdose events. However, the sites are located close to  ambulance stations which can be called upon. The Oslo site, which saw tens of thousands of injections in 2015 and 2016, had a total of 627 overdose cases in that period, with no fatalities.

Denmark: Danish harm reductionists jumped ahead of official approval in 2011, when they opened a mobile OPC in Copenhagen. For 10 months, police and officials let the nonprofit Fixerum serve people who use drugs without making any arrests. That forced the parliament to take steps to legalize and regulate OPC in 2012. Under the new law, cities could open sites if the health ministry approved, and drug users and harm reduction workers would be protected from arrests for low-level drug possession in and around OPC. The first brick-and-mortar OPC opened in Copenhagen later that year.

Portugal: Portugal led the way in 2001 by decriminalizing drug possession and endorsing a harm reduction approach to drug use. However, the country lagged far behind other European nations on OPC. Progress finally came in 2019, as the Lisbon city council agreed to authorize a mobile facility. In 2021, two decades after decriminalization, Portugal opened its first safer smoking and injection sites.

Colombia: In 2023 Colombia made history as the first country to open an OPC in South America. The facility is run by Acción Técnica Social, a local nonprofit. The organization reports that in over a year since opening, it has given out 40,000 sterile syringes. And it has responded to 14 heroin-involved overdose incidents, each time preventing a fatality. ATS has served 78 individuals, most of them uhoused. Besides harm reduction supplies, the nonprofit provides people with food and shelter.

Screenshot from the video “Overdose Prevention Centers: Got a Minute?” by the Drug Policy Alliance

The post As OPC Opens in Rhode Island, the US Still Lags Far Behind appeared first on Filter.

On September 13, Safehouse announced that had it filed a brief with the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which hears cases in Pennsylvania. Safehouse is appealing against a previous ruling in favor of the US Department of Justice under President Biden, in seeking to “establish an overdose prevention center where drug users, particularly those suffering from opioid addiction, may remain under direct medical supervision and within immediate reach of critical, lifesaving care at the time of drug consumption, when the risk of overdose death is most acute.”

Safehouse is arguing on First Amendment grounds that its planned facility is protected by the right to religious freedom.

“Overdose prevention centers have been employed for over 35 years at more than 100 sites worldwide,” the brief continues, “and have, through the medical-supervision model, prevented thousands of overdose deaths, reduced the spread of disease, administered essential medical care, and provided shelter and dignity to those suffering from addiction.” 

Safehouse is arguing on First Amendment grounds that its planned facility is protected by the right to religious freedom, and that the federal government’s opposition prevents members “from fulfilling their deeply held religious beliefs to provide those suffering from addiction with shelter and critical lifesaving care.”

On September 11, a coalition of faith leaders also filed a document with the court in support of Safehouse. The group, comprising 46 religious leaders from 18 states, wrote that “the Court should bar the Government from infringing the sincerely held religious beliefs of certain members of Safehouse’s Board of Directors and allow Safehouse to provide the life-saving treatment that countless Philadelphians deserve.”

“The Bible contains no shortage of passages depicting Jesus providing life-saving treatment … Individuals struggling with addiction are no exception to this calling,” the document continued. “Addiction has historically been stigmatized as a personal choice and moral failing; this stigmatization has led to a public health failure … Judeo-Christian beliefs call on humanity to provide [impacted people] with love, treatment, and care.”

Safehouse first announced its plan to open an OPC in 2018—just after Tom Wolf (D), then Pennsylvania’s governor, declared the overdose crisis a public health emergency in the state. But in February 2019, a federal prosecutor appointed by President Trump sued to block the site from opening. The Trump administration argued that any OPC would violate the federal “crack house” statute, a Reagan-era law that criminalizes “maintaining drug-involved premises.”

In February 2020, the federal District Court in Philadelphia ruled in favor of Safehouse, reasoning that the purpose of the OPC would be to save lives. But just after this court win, Safehouse temporarily tabled its plan amid backlash from residents near the planned site in South Philadelphia.

“We finally got to an impasse where it was clear we weren’t going to resolve this. We advised the court we needed to move forward with the litigation.”

Then in January 2021, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the 2020 ruling. Having inherited the case from the Trump administration, the Biden administration has quietly continued to fight it, often stalling.

“We finally got to an impasse where it was clear we weren’t going to resolve this,” Ronda Goldfein, a Safehouse board member and executive director of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, told Filter of the background to the new developments. “We advised the court we needed to move forward with the litigation. We didn’t think a settlement was forthcoming. In response the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss our religious freedom claim.”

“At every discovery deadline or status report to the court, we’d get up to it and agree to extend it because it felt like things were moving,” she continued. “Finally, by January 2023 they asked for another extension, and we felt that in good faith, we could not continue to grant extensions because people are dying at an alarming rate in Philadelphia—three to four people every day. We felt we simply had to move forward.”

Although Safehouse entered mediation with the DOJ, in July the Biden administration finally took a stance and asked the court to reject Safehouse’s religious-freedom claim, arguing that an OPC would be illegal under federal law.

Carla Sofronski, executive director of the Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Network, further described the harrowing current situation in Philadelpia under Mayor Cherelle Parker (D), whose 2023 campaign platform included increasing police funding and opposing harm reduction resources like OPC. In June, Philly police began enforcing their “improvement plan” for the hard-hit Kensington neighborhood, targeting drug sales, sex workers and “quality of life crimes.” The city recorded nearly 1,400 overdose deaths in 2022, a record high, with Black and Hispanic residents increasingly at risk.

“We’re in the midst of a serious public health crisis,” Sofronski told Filter. “Unfortunately [Mayor Parker] is not using any evidence-based tools, or listening to medical professionals to help the situation … Parker is moving towards more law enforcement approaches rather than public health strategies, and we’re seeing the effects which is continued preventable death, folks with more [skin] tissue wounds, and treatment centers that cannot handle the folks coming in because of the severity of their [health issues].”

Earlier in September, City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada introduced a bill to further restrict mobile harm reduction services in Kensington.

For an OPC to be successful, Sofronski said, support from local residents and businesses will be needed, as well as education for local people about how the site can alleviate issues they’re experiencing.

“This would bring people inside and get them off the streets,” she said. “Right now our police is shuffling people around. They walk up to a crowd and say ‘Everybody needs to move.’ Everybody moves, then 20 minutes later they go there and say, ‘Everybody has to move.’ Folks are being shuffled, they’re pushing them off Kensington Avenue into residential streets. Now the residents are not going to be happy, but they don’t understand the benefits an OPC can bring.”

Much evidence has demonstrated that OPC prevent deaths, including in surrounding areas. As well as being ready to intervene in any overdose occurring on site, OPC staff provide a range of other resources, services and referrals to improve people’s health and wellbeing. OPC also reduce issues of concern to some local residents, such as public drug use.

“Do I hope that if Vice President Harris is elected, her admin will be more willing to engage? Absolutely.”

So what happens next in the legal case? Goldfein explained the potential timeline.

“The DOJ will have to respond to our brief, by [roughly] the first two weeks of October,” she said. “We will file a reply the last two weeks of October, and then it will be in the court’s hands.” However, “all this could be pushed back a little later … The DOJ could theoretically not respond, and the court will base its decision on our argument and legal reasoning.”

Goldfein declined to speculate on how electoral considerations might factor into the Biden administration’s next moves on Safehouse. But the looming presidential election is impossible to ignore, with Trump and Republicans likely to attack any concession to OPC as “pro-drug” or “pro-crime.”

“We have not heard from [the Harris campaign], and we have not reached out to them,” Goldfein said. “Do I hope that if Vice President Harris is elected, her admin will be more willing to engage? Absolutely. I have heard her talk about her values; I think they align with our values.”

Photograph of booths at Victoria SAFER Initiative in Canada via SAFER

The post Safehouse Fights On for Philadelphia OPC With New Court Filings appeared first on Filter.

These deaths are preventable. We could prevent them if we knew when and where overdoses were occurring, so that we could ensure immediate lifesaving care.

It is my job to think about my patients’ wellbeing across the continuum of care. I see OPC as an essential component of this continuum. 

The good news is that the United States is becoming increasingly receptive to a proven way that we can act to save lives: opening overdose prevention centers (OPC).

As a doctor in primary care and substance use disorder treatment, it is my job to think about my patients’ wellbeing across the continuum of care, from preventive services to acute lifesaving interventions. I see OPC as an essential component of this continuum. 

Research supports OPC as an effective part of our continuum of care. Decades of evidence have found that these facilities:

* Increase uptake of drug treatment services, especially among people who distrust the treatment system and are unlikely to seek treatment on their own

* Reduce public drug use and syringe litter

* Reduce HIV and viral hepatitis risk behavior and bacterial infections

* Reduce frequency of drug use and overdose deaths

* Increase cost savings from reduced reliance on emergency medical services, increased preventive health care and increased drug treatment utilization   

OPC are low-barrier health care. When implemented using a holistic care model, OPC are placed alongside services where people can receive health and wellness resources, such as food, bathrooms and showers, hygienic supplies, prescriptions, testing for sexually transmitted infections, counseling and referrals. And critically, OPC have a dedicated space where people can use pre-obtained drugs under the care of trained personnel who are ready to save lives.

OPC are preventive care. The cause of death from opioid overdoses is lack of oxygen, because people stop breathing during an overdose. People can receive the medication naloxone to reverse the overdose and allow them to breathe again. However, receiving naloxone can be an extremely painful experience for a person who is dependent on opioids, because it sends them into severe withdrawal. 

OPC reduce the need for naloxone by having trained staff ready to act at the earliest signs of overdose. They administer less invasive strategies like oxygen therapy to stabilize breathing. According to the first-year report from OnPoint NYC, operator of New York’s two OPC, 83 percent of overdoses at its sites were treated and resolved without the need for naloxone. This also means patients were stabilized faster, preventing the need for emergency or hospital services for post-overdose monitoring. Fewer ambulance calls and hospitalizations mean less-burdened health care systems and public cost savings.

OPC are person-centered care. We are decades into the worst overdose crisis this country has ever seen and still, the default response to drug use is to punish people by arresting them, rather than treating it as a public health issue. To save lives and support long-term stability, it makes sense to offer people an OPC during vulnerable moments of drug use, rather than stigmatize them into isolation. 

OPC support people and help ensure they survive overdoses, so they can continue to work toward wellness, however that looks for them.

OPC are often staffed by people with lived and living experience who can establish trusting relationships through loving support, and serve participants’ needs beyond drug use. This can help address trauma and untreated health conditions, as well as meeting basic practical human needs. OPC are versatile, and adaptable to the needs of specific communities and populations.

OPC support and stabilize chaotic drug use. I often hear the refrain, “just send them to treatment,” not recognizing that substance use disorder is a chronic condition that does not typically resolve after just one episode of treatment. Many people who struggle with substance use return to use following some form of treatment. OPC support people and help ensure they survive overdoses, so they can continue to work toward wellness, however that looks for them. Treatment readiness can change gradually or rapidly, and often can be facilitated by the presence of a trained support system that can respond to a person’s desire to reduce or discontinue their use.                                                                     

OPC are health care. As a vital part of a comprehensive public health approach to reducing drug-related harms, they are supported by the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), the Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) and more. 

Ending our overdose crisis means responding to it like the public health crisis that it is, and OPC are a necessary part of that response.

Photograph of OnPoint NYC overdose prevention center by Sarah Duggan

This article is part of a short series produced in collaboration with the Drug Policy Alliance to mark Overdose Prevention Center National Solidarity Week. The Influence Foundation, which operates Filter, previously received an unrelated restricted grant from DPA. Filter’s Editorial Independence Policy applies.

The post Overdose Prevention Centers Are Health Care: Treat Them as Such appeared first on Filter.

Overdose deaths are entirely preventable. Yet one proven public health intervention remains largely sidelined: overdose prevention centers (OPC). These facilities have proven to increase connections to resources and treatment, reduce hazardous waste in surrounding neighborhoods, alleviate the strain on emergency services, and most importantly, save lives. 

August 25-31 marks Overdose Prevention Center National Solidarity Week, created by directly impacted people, service providers and advocates to educate communities and pressure legislators to support the establishment of OPC. It is time for our political leaders to put public health before political convenience and pave the way for OPC to open across the country.

OPC, also known as safe consumption sites, are places where people can consume pre-obtained drugs under the care of staff trained and equipped to prevent and reverse overdoses. In addition to immediate medical intervention, OPC offer a range of services addressing participants’ broader needs. 

These can include connecting individuals to long-term addiction treatment; providing access to drug checking that enables informed choices, and safer-use supplies that reduce the spread of bloodborne diseases; offering wound care and mental health services; and supplying essential resources like food, showers and laundry facilities. OPC also save taxpayer dollars by decreasing reliance on emergency services and hospital visits. 

In the US, the adoption of OPC has been slow, but recent movement is promising.

OPC have existed worldwide for nearly 40 years, with over 200 sanctioned facilities operational around the globe. Their track record of keeping people alive and the research underscoring their efficacy are nothing short of remarkable.

In the US, the adoption of OPC has been slow, but recent movement is promising. OnPoint NYC, a New York City-based nonprofit, has led the charge—operating two OPC since November 2021 with city approval. These centers have been utilized more than 150,000 times, with staff intervening in more than 1,500 overdoses without a single fatality. Rhode Island, which became the first state to pass legislation authorizing OPC in 2021, is set to open its first facility in Providence in fall 2024. San Francisco has also made strides by funding a temporary OPC, which successfully intervened in 333 overdoses over 11 months.

Minnesota joined the movement in 2023, with the state’s governor (and now Democratic vice presidential candidate) signing legislation that includes over $14 million for establishing OPC. And just this summer, Vermont’s state legislature authorized OPC and provided funding for one to open in Burlington. 

These local and state-level initiatives demonstrate the growing recognition of OPC as a critical tool against the overdose crisis. However, for this progress to continue, more state and local leaders must reject the stigma and misinformation which too often dominate drug policy debates. They must look past the fear-mongering, and follow the evidence to save lives.

Federal laws remain a barrier, but not an insurmountable one. Local leaders should not wait to act.

One reason some local leaders hesitate to embrace OPC is fear of law enforcement intervention. However, law enforcement professionals across the country are increasingly supportive of OPC, recognizing that they reduce the need for police officers to serve as first responders in situations better handled by health professionals. Before the launch of OnPoint’s OPC services, four district attorneys agreed not to interfere with the initiative. The Department of Justice has also signaled a willingness to allow states and localities to determine OPC implementation, indicating a potential shift in federal attitudes.

Federal laws remain a barrier, but not an insurmountable one. The 1986 “crack house statute,” 21 USC § 856, was designed to combat drug trafficking and sales, not to prevent proven public health interventions. As many legal scholars and law enforcement officials argue that this statute should not apply to OPC, the legal landscape remains unsettled. In the only relevant case to date, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that OPC would violate this federal law. However, this ruling only applies in the Third Circuit, leaving the question open in most of the nation.

Nonetheless, local leaders should not wait to act. Just as the early champions of syringe service programs in the 1980s paved the way for widespread adoption during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, saving countless lives, bold action on OPC is needed now.

To clear the path for OPC, state and local governments can take proactive measures. Enacting state or local legislation to authorize OPC can offer some protection against potential federal enforcement. Additionally, states and localities could consider implementing emergency declarations to temporarily permit OPC, and/or direct law enforcement not to intervene.

Every day that our elected leaders delay action on evidence-based solutions to the overdose crisis, more lives are needlessly lost.

Federal action is also critical to the long-term success of OPC. The Department of Justice could clarify that OPC will not be an enforcement priority, similar to its approach to state-level marijuana legalization during the Obama administration. Congress could follow suit by ensuring that taxpayer funds are not used to prosecute OPC, as it has done with medical marijuana. A more definitive step would be for Congress to enact legislation explicitly excluding OPC from the scope of prohibited activities under the Controlled Substances Act. Ultimately, all levels of government must provide the funding necessary to ensure OPC can meet communities’ needs.

Every day that our elected leaders delay action on evidence-based solutions to the overdose crisis, more lives are needlessly lost. This crisis impacts all of us, and it is imperative that we swiftly embrace and scale every viable response. 

OPC offer a proven approach to saving lives and improving public health. The success of OnPoint NYC and the momentum in states and municipalities across the country should inspire further action. It is time for our leaders to act decisively and support the expansion of OPC—we have no time to waste.

Screenshot from the Drug Policy Alliance video Overdose Prevention Centers: Got a Minute? used with permission. 

This article is part of a short series produced in collaboration with the Drug Policy Alliance to mark Overdose Prevention Center National Solidarity Week. The Influence Foundation, which operates Filter, previously received an unrelated restricted grant from DPA. Filter’s Editorial Independence Policy applies.

The post A Week to Ramp Up the Pressure for Overdose Prevention Centers appeared first on Filter.

“We plan to have the overdose prevention center open in the fall,” she told Filter.

The site will be run by Macon’s employer, Project Weber/RENEW, which has served people who use drugs in Providence, together with people living with HIV, sex workers, trans people and people experiencing homelessness, for almost 20 years. The organization currently runs two drop-in centers and conducts street outreach.

Overdose prevention centers (OPC, also known as safe consumption sites among other terms) are facilities that are proven to save lives. They avert any overdoses and provide vital resources for people using state-banned drugs on the premises. Almost 200 authorized OPC currently operate in 14 countries.

Despite an unprecedented overdose crisis, it took the US until November 2021 to open two of them—run by OnPoint NYC in Manhattan and authorized by New York City. The outcomes speak for themselves. By summer 2023, the organization reported having averted over 1,000 overdoses among more than 3,700 participants.

But the first state to officially authorize OPC was Rhode Island, which enacted a bill to create a pilot program in July 2021 (Minnesota followed in May 2023, and Vermont in June 2024).  

Since the 2021 bill was signed into law, it’s been a long road to getting Rhode Island’s first OPC up and running.

“Rhode Island was the first state in the US to legalize OPCs, so we have taken a different pathway than NY by going through the legislative process,” Alexandra Collins, PhD, a medical social scientist in the Department of Epidemiology at Brown University in Providence, told Filter. “Overall, I think the site in Rhode Island will be like many integrated OPC models—offering harm reduction and social support services, but also clinical and treatment supports through VICTA, the OPC clinical partner.”

Since that 2021 bill was signed into law, it’s been a long road to getting Rhode Island’s first OPC up and running, however. 

As Filter previously reported, the relevant regulations took effect in February 2022, then late that year the state began accepting proposals for sites, to be funded with some of Rhode Island’s opioid settlement money. But the planned location and health care partner described by Filter in 2023 both ended up changing.

That was mainly due to various timelines for the move not aligning, Macon explained, which resulted in the switch to a partnership with VICTA, and a new location for both OPC and drop-in center: 45 Willard Ave.

“This definitely was a challenging decision to make but it does feel like a positive one,” Macon said. “Our new building is near the Rhode Island Hospital campus, directly off the RIPTA bus line, a little less than a mile away from our current Providence drop-in center.” 

The Providence City Council ultimately authorized the current plans in February 2024, and work to open the OPC has been gathering pace since then.

“By co-locating the center in the same building as our drop-in services … we hope to expand the ability for people who use drugs to access a diverse set of resources.”

The organizers aim to capitalize on the success of OnPointNYC and different models in Canada, helping to create a blueprint for other states and jurisdictions to follow or adapt, according to needs.

“People who use drugs deserve compassion and care, and we hope this space can be utilized by a broad base of individuals,” Macon said. “By co-locating the center in the same building as our drop-in services like drug checking, case management, laundry, hygiene services as well as healthcare practitioners, we hope to also expand the ability for people who use drugs to access a diverse set of resources.”

One part of the plan that hasn’t changed since 2023 is that the Providence OPC “will absolutely have inhalation booths” as well as injection booths, Macon confirmed. “We are firmly committed to [ensuring that] a diverse population of people who use drugs are able to access resources, and having inhalation booths is integral in that.”

So, too, is the fact that the center will be staffed by people with lived experience, something Macon said “is fundamental to our core principles and values” at Project Weber/RENEW.

It sounds outstanding. People will get to use their drugs in a supportive environment, with all drug-use supplies and many other resources available on site. They can be tested, and if necessary linked to care, for bloodborne diseases such as HIV or hepatitis C. They’ll also be able to hang out, wash their clothes and take a shower.

“The OPC will really serve as a community space for people who use drugs in Providence, and be a key component of providing not only harm reduction services and supervised consumption, but also wraparound support for people,” said Dr. Collins, a member of the People, Place, and Health Collective whose research focuses have included harm reduction interventions like drug-checking and OPC.

“One of the biggest differences between New York and Rhode Island is that the Rhode Island site will be regulated by the Rhode Island Department of Health,” Macon noted. “We are very fortunate to have support from a state law that authorizes OPCs, as well as support from our local Department of Health and Opioid Settlement Committee. We are also happy to be included in a five-year, federally funded evaluation to research the impact of the RI and NYC OPCs.”

That study, as the Brown Daily Herald described in July 2023, “will evaluate the impact of the nation’s first publicly recognized OPCs … located in New York City and, by 2024, in Providence.”

Researchers at Brown and NYU plan “to measure overdose rates—both at the OPCs and in their surrounding communities—as well as usage rates for substance use disorder treatment and recovery services, in addition to other indicators such as the number of people using the OPCs who access associated housing programs,” the article continued. “A second phase of the project plans to examine the impacts of safe injection sites on the specific neighborhoods in which they are located.”

Collins emphasized how for many people, the site will be a critical protection from arrest and other harms associated with using drugs on the street. “We are facing an ongoing housing crisis in the state as well, so the OPC will be a really important space for people to be able to use inside.”

It can’t come soon enough. In July, Governor Dan McKee (D) and his Overdose Task Force reported that 404 people in Rhode Island lost their lives to overdose in 2023. That was 7 percent lower than 2022, but still far higher than in previous years. The rate actually increased among Rhode Islanders aged 35-44. And the rate for Black residents, despite an 11 percent drop compared to 2022, remained higher than for white residents. Among Rhode Island municipalities, Providence, with 53 fatal overdoses per 100,000 population, was second only to Woonsocket (67) on that grim metric.

“Rhode Island is such a small state, and given the extent of the overdose crisis, many people have been impacted in some way … either through family, friends, or their own experiences,” Collins said.

“Harm reduction work has always been driven by the community, and we wouldn’t have been able to do this without all of the collective support of our community here.”

This reality has driven the powerful advocacy that has brought the state to the brink of opening its first OPC.

“Community organizers, harm reduction workers, and people with lived experience have been working in coalition with lobbyists and local policymakers since 2018 to approve the implementation of overdose prevention centers in Rhode Island,” Macon said. “Harm reduction work has always been driven by the community, and we wouldn’t have been able to do this without all of the collective support of our community here.”

“The OPC legislation is the outcome of years of tireless advocacy efforts by front line service providers and community members” Collins agreed. “I can’t underestimate how much time and effort went into getting this legislation passed, but also getting authorization passed by the Providence City Council so it can open.”

The federal government has yet to support OPC, however. And in the current political climate, threats are never far away.

“I am definitely concerned about the upcoming election and what it may mean for progress we have made in terms of evidence-based interventions, and funding for organizations providing front line services to folks who use drugs,’” Collins said. “There is a risk that a change in administration could lead to efforts to stymie OPC efforts. However, the momentum at the state level around OPCs I think is really important, and hopefully will … stop any potential backsliding.”

Over 100,000 people are dying of overdose in the US every year. Each case is a preventable personal, family and community tragedy. The evidence for OPC has been demonstrated around the world: not a single recorded overdose death at such a facility; reduced deaths in surrounding areas; reduced HIV and hepatitis C transmissions; and increased referrals to health and social services.

The Providence site is set to add to that data—but most importantly, to save and transform people’s lives.

Photograph of OPC in Australia by Nigel Brunsdon/NigelBrunsdon.com

The post Providence, RI, Overdose Prevention Center Set to Open This Fall appeared first on Filter.

March was the second consecutive month in 2024 that fatal overdoses decreased, based on data from the city medical examiner, as Axios San Francisco reported. Citywide, 72 people lost their lives in January. This decreased to 66 deaths in February, then 61 in March. In March, the city reports that 45 deaths involved fentanyl.

Anna Berg, LCSW, programs director at the Harm Reduction Therapy Center in San Francisco, described the news as “encouraging.” It is “what we’ve all been hoping for as a broader community for some time,” she told Filter.

A major note of caution is that overdose deaths also decreased at the beginning of 2023.

The context is that 2023 was San Francisco’s worst year on record for overdose deaths. City forensics data estimate that a total of 806 people died (the number is preliminary until officials verify each case).

A major note of caution over the 2024 figures so far is that overdose deaths also decreased at the beginning of 2023, falling from 84 in January to 52 in February—before rising in March and most subsequent months to a peak of 88 in August. It remains to be seen what will happen in the rest of 2024.

Numerous city policies are not supportive of a sustained decline. In March, San Francisco voters approved Proposition F, requiring the city to drug test people receiving certain public benefits. Mayor London Breed (D) backed the measure as a way compel more people into substance use disorder treatment. Harm reductionists condemned it for punishing poverty, because of the harms of forced treatment, and because of the strain they say it will place on scarce treatment resources.

Mayor Breed has also led a police crackdown centered on the city’s Tenderloin district, while an anti-narcotics joint task force with state law enforcement aims to charge people who sell fentanyl with murder.

“It’s disappointing,” Berg said of the Breed administration. “We know that resurrecting policies from the failed War on Drugs is going to give us the same results of increased generational trauma, pushing people to the margins of society versus bringing them into care that is desperately needed. We are going to see the impacts of this for generations.”

Critically, city and state officials have also failed to move forward with safe consumption sites (SCS, also known as overdose prevention centers). Mayor Breed formerly endorsed the facilities, which are proven to prevent overdose deaths by allowing people to use banned drugs with staff and resources on hand. For years now, San Francisco advocates have fought to open them.

Back in November 2021, Breed announced the city was purchasing a $6.3 million commercial property, which harm reduction advocates believed could be used as a future SCS. She’s since changed direction. In December 2022, she moved to close a facility at the Tenderloin Center which had been operating as a temporary, locally sanctioned SCS that year, averting 333 overdoses. Local service provider HealthRight 360 described the action as “horrible” and “despicable.”

“There’s more naloxone out there, more people who know how to use it and are identifying emergencies in real time before they become fatal.”

But other work in the city, as Berg pointed out, is undoubtedly helping to prevent deaths.

“There’s been a lot of wonderful community work happening in the context of [the city’s] unfortunate political direction,” she said. “At our mobile sites, we have steadily increased the amount of naloxone we are distributing at every location. There has been work by San Francisco Department of Public Health to expand that to all sorts of organizations, even those that don’t do anything with folks who are using substances, to expand education and access.”

According to the San Francisco Standard, the health department distributed 100,000 naloxone doses between January and September 2023. Local organizations like FACES for the Future Coalition are offering free training to high school students to recognize and reverse overdose, while a community naloxone training at the University of California San Francisco, for example, reportedly drew 150 people.

“There’s more naloxone out there, more people who know how to use it and are identifying emergencies in real time before they become fatal,” Berg said. “For our site alone, 63 percent of people who accessed our Narcan and overdose prevention services in February reported reversing an overdose. That’s an astounding number for one agency.”

Yet governments continue to limit the resources on offer. San Francisco was one of a handful of California cities slated to open an official SCS as a pilot under legislation approved by state lawmakers in 2022, Senate Bill 57. But in a major reversal of past campaign promises, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed the bill that year.

San Francisco activists have kept working to save lives and highlight the acute need for SCS. In August 2023, a group called Concerned Public Response set up a temporary, unsanctioned site in an alleyway, where they reported reversing two overdoses in one day of action.

According to the available data for 2023, deaths involving fentanyl represented the biggest increase for the city that year. Significant increases in deaths involving methamphetamine and cocaine were also recorded, though such data should always be questioned.

In demographic terms, the majority of deaths (62 percent) were among people over 45. A large majority of recorded victims (almost 83 percent) were men. Black residents died at grossly disproportionate rates—suffering 31 percent of overdose deaths, despite representing under 6 percent of the city’s population. And 28 percent of people who died were unhoused.

Photograph by Jeff Anderson via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0

The post San Francisco Overdose Deaths Falling in Early 2024: Will It Last? appeared first on Filter.

In an April 3 order and attached memo, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said that while it’s “self-evident” that the nonprofit Safehouse holds “noble intentions” to reduce the harms of the overdose crisis, it could not accept its arguments that the federal ban on providing safe consumption services violated the group’s religious rights.

The DOJ first blocked Safehouse from opening the safe consumption site (SCS, also known as overdose prevention centers) in Philadelphia under the Trump administration. Supporters hoped the department would cede the issue under President Joe Biden, who has promoted harm reduction policies as an alternative to criminalization, but the parties could not reach an agreement to allow the facility to open, despite months of “good faith” negotiations.

Safehouse had asserted that it should be exempt from federal prosecution because its harm reduction mission is guided by Judeo-Christian values, therefore entitling it to protections under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and freedom of expression clause of the First Amendment.

“The noble intentions of Safehouse and its founders are self-evident … but their religious inspiration does not provide a shield against prosecution for violation of a federal criminal statute.”

But US District Judge Gerald Austin McHugh said that based on an analysis of the nonprofit’s federal filings and various other organizational documents, he is “persuaded that Safehouse is not a religious entity.”

However, McHugh did seem to empathize with the group and its objectives.

“The noble intentions of Safehouse and its founders are self-evident, and the public health crisis they seek to address continues unabated, but their religious inspiration does not provide a shield against prosecution for violation of a federal criminal statute barring its operation,” he said.

In the lead-up to the DOJ’s initial request for a dismissal of Safehouse’s lawsuit, several local lawmakers, including Democrats who champion marijuana legalization, asked the federal court to block Safehouse from opening and requested permission to file a brief in the case. A coalition of 20 Pennsylvania community groups also requested that the court allow it to intervene in the lawsuit.

A coalition of religious leaders later came out in support of the nonprofit, asking the court to reject the federal government’s request.

Talks were described as “productive,” leaving some advocates hopeful that the DOJ might drop the case. But that didn’t materialize.

The Justice Department previously declined to file a brief to offer its position on the harm reduction issue, and it asked the court for more time to respond in the “complex” case. In 2022, the DOJ said it was in the process of evaluating possible “guardrails” for SCS.

in January 2023, Safehouse and the department agreed to transfer the case to mediation before a magistrate judge to settle the issue. The talks were described as “productive,” leaving some advocates hopeful that the DOJ might drop the case altogether. But that didn’t materialize.

In October 2021, the Supreme Court had rejected a request to hear a case on the legality of establishing the Safehouse facilities.

In a 2022 report, congressional researchers highlighted the “uncertainty” of the federal government’s position on SCS—while pointing out that lawmakers could temporarily resolve the issue by advancing an amendment modeled after the one that has allowed medical marijuana laws to be implemented without DOJ interference.

Meanwhile, New York City opened the first locally sanctioned SCS in the US in 2022, and officials have reported positive results in saving lives.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow has tacitly endorsed the idea of authorizing SCS, saying that evidence has effectively demonstrated that the facilities can prevent overdose deaths.

Volkow declined to say specifically what she believes should happen with the ongoing lawsuit, but she said that research on SCS has “shown that it has saved a significant [percentage of] patients from overdosing.”

Gupta, the White House “drug czar,” previously said it’s critical to explore “any and every option” to reduce overdose deaths, which could include allowing SCS.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) put out a pair of requests for applications in December 2021 to investigate how safe consumption sites and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.

A study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) in 2022 found that the recently opened New York City facilities had decreased the risk of overdose, steered people away from using drugs in public, and provided other ancillary health services to people who use drugs.

Rahul Gupta, the White House “drug czar,” previously said the Biden administration is reviewing broader drug policy and harm reduction proposals, including the authorization of SCS, and went so far as to suggest possible drug decriminalization.

Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), said it’s critical to explore “any and every option” to reduce overdose deaths, which could include allowing SCS.

Photograph by Photo Claude TRUONG-NGOC via Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons 3.0

This story was originally published by Marijuana Moment, which tracks the politics and policy of cannabis and drugs. Follow Marijuana Moment on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for its newsletter.

The post Federal Court Grants DOJ Request to Dismiss Safehouse SCS Challenge appeared first on Filter.

The study, published in the Lancet Public Health journal in February, examined overdose mortality incidence in Toronto between May 2017 and the end of 2019, a period when nine supervised consumption services (SCS) opened up around the city.

Comparing before and after, the researchers found a stunning 67 percent decrease in overdose fatalities in neighborhoods within 500 meters of SCS that had begun operating.

“In a geographically weighted regression analysis that adjusted for a range of neighborhood-level variables, we found an inverse association between the location of SCS and that of overdose fatalities,” they wrote.

A decrease in mortality “remained significant (though slightly weaker)” as far as 5 kilometers away from a site.

In other words, the apparent protective effect associated with an SCS is stronger the closer you are to it. But a decrease in mortality “remained significant (though slightly weaker),” the authors wrote, as far as 5 kilometers away from a site.

Why would this be?

SCS are characterized by the fact they allow people to use banned drugs on site, with naloxone, trained personnel and other resources on hand to intervene if an overdose occurs. But they don’t stop there: They also distribute naloxone and safer-use supplies, and provide referrals and connections to other vital health services.

“We posit that [fatal overdose] rate reduction at larger distances is potentially a result of naloxone dissemination across neighborhoods,” the authors wrote, “or an indirect effect of SCS acting as sites of low-barrier referrals to opioid agonist treatment, which is protective against overdose mortality.”

Harm reduction information is another important aspect of what SCS provide. And it’s incredible to think of a kind of ripple effect among drug-using communities: people better equipped, better connected and better able to survive, thanks to these programs.

“What we know about [SCS], whether you like it or not, is that they produce a sense of community among clients and the broader network of people who visit them and are served by them,” Dr. Daniel Werb, one the study authors and director of Toronto’s Centre for Drug Policy and Evaluation, told the Toronto Star. “From a public health perspective, that’s a good thing.”

Werb called the two-thirds reduction in mortality in surrounding areas “pretty amazing,” and he’s right. This powerful new evidence of the impact of SCS on wider communities could also boost advocacy for the services in the United States and elsewhere.

“These are neighborhoods with the highest concentration of overdose mortality, so seeing deaths decrease suggested a spatially-dependent positive spillover effect.”

Indhu Rammohan, MSc, was the lead author of the research. She studies at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, but completed this study for her masters thesis while attending the University of Toronto. She also works for the Centre for Drug Policy and Evaluation.

Many SCS “are co-located or partnered with existing community health services so they can connect people with primary care, treatment options, and a range of social services,” she told Filter. “There has never been a fatal overdose at one of these sites.”

That striking “never” applies despite SCS having operated for decades, in Europe, Australia, Canada and more recently in New York.

I asked Rammohan how the new research was conceived and developed.

“There was a lack of research using population-level metrics to evaluate supervised consumption sites—particularly in the context of the current synthetic opioid-fueled overdose crisis—and it seemed that this was an important piece to consider along with the existing evidence base,” she replied. “Dan Werb, my advisor, introduced me to spatial epidemiology and we envisioned how we could apply these methods to evaluate the asynchronous implementation of multiple supervised consumption sites in Toronto.”

Spatial epidemiology, as the term suggests, concerns the distribution of health outcomes across locations.

“We found that implementation of supervised consumption sites was associated with a reduction in overdose deaths in surrounding neighborhoods” Rammohan continued. “These are the neighborhoods with the highest concentration of drug use and overdose mortality, so seeing deaths decrease in these neighborhoods suggested that there may be a spatially-dependent positive spillover effect associated with supervised consumption sites.”

Rammohan then described three steps the researchers took to arrive at their findings. 

First, they looked at overdose mortality data before and after the opening of SCS in different locations. Second, they mapped overdose deaths to see where they were heavily concentrated. And third, they controlled for population-level factors—neighborhood characteristics of overdose mortality and other health services operating in the vicinity—and looked at overdose rates in relation to the proximity of SCS.

“This research offers another dimension to the evidence supporting SCS … and our findings can further inform policy planning to this end.”

The result was compelling data to enhance a wealth of existing evidence supporting SCS, including large numbers of overdose deaths directly averted, reduced transmissions of HIV and hepatitis C, and more. Still more research has refuted opponents’ talking points, demonstrating, for example, that SCS do not increase local crime rates.

In 2021, On Point NYC made history by opening the first two sanctioned SCS in the US, termed overdose prevention centers, in East Harlem and Washington Heights. Since then, according to the organization’s website, the facilities have served 4,486 participants, monitored drug use 117,559 times, intervened in 1,339 overdoses, and safely disposed of 2,000,000 “units of hazardous waste,” such as syringes.

If that’s not success, I don’t know what is. But although a handful of states have now authorized SCS or moved toward doing so, progress is agonizingly slow during an unprecedented overdose crisis. So I asked Rammohan what she thought her research could do for US advocates.

“In the absence of federal support … this research can be used by local and state governments that are considering expanding their strategy to prevent overdose deaths and related harms using an evidence-informed approach,” she said. “This research offers another dimension to the evidence supporting supervised consumption sites … and our findings can further inform policy planning to this end.”

Image (cropped) by SHB2000 via Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons 4.0

The post “Another Dimension”—OD Deaths Fall Sharply in Areas Close to SCS appeared first on Filter.

We decided to create this safe space because the Mouraria neighborhood in Lisbon has always been heavily marked by drug use in the streets. At the beginning of 2022, there were changes in the needs of the community of people who use drugs. They were incessantly looking for safe places to use drugs without being exposed to the gaze of neighbors, tourists and the police.

Consumption rooms have been allowed in Portuguese law since 2001, but the first consumption room only started operating in 2019. In Lisbon, there were only two formal consumption spaces and that was clearly insufficient for the needs of the community.

People need a place where there’s no judgment, where they can be accepted, have support and access to safe consumption material in a dignified space.

It has been a long process of constructing a space designed by the community of people who use drugs and by staff.

The GAT team (Grupo de Ativistas em Tratamentos/ Group of Activists in Treatment) decided to use some material, human resources and know-how from previous experiences to informally allow people to use a space to smoke and inject drugs. Taking this decision was a matter of survival because our community is struggling. We already had a previous experience from the mobile DCR (drug consumption room) in Lisbon.

Creating an unsanctioned drug consumption room has been a long process of constructing a space designed by the community of people who use drugs and by staff.

The DCR is led by peer mediators, nurses and harm reduction workers. There are two spaces: the injection area with eight seats; and the smoking area, which is an outdoor space which holds a maximum of 12 people at a time.

In each area there is usually a peer or harm reduction worker supervising the consumption and managing the space. Nurses supervise the injection, and are called in case of emergency or an overdose.

Both consumption areas are very different. The injection space is very intimate and people enjoy the quietness. The smoking area is for socializing and there is a lot of movement.

We’ve tried to create a space that doesn’t feel very medicalized. This is reflected in the leadership of peers and the importance of the participation of people who use drugs, who helped to design the space and service.

Relationships are based on trust, non-judgement and “horizontality” between professionals and members of the community.

When people enter the DCR, they indicate their registration number (if they have one, it’s not obligatory), and indicate which substance they are going to consume. Those who inject drugs are asked a few more questions for safety reasons.

There are more than 1,000 uses per month in the smoking space, and we’ve seen a significant increase in injection of drugs.

People can use the space for 20 to 30 minutes. These rules are a bit flexible according to the service flow.

Heroin and crack cocaine are the most ingested substances and there is a high rate of “speedball” use. There are more than 1,000 uses per month in the smoking space, and we’ve seen a significant increase in injection of drugs to around 350 per month.

Just next door to the DCR there is a drop-in center where there is access to peer counseling, social work services, safe sex and drug consumption material, psychiatry and general medicine consultations.

Considering that harm reduction is underfunded in Portugal, we believe that the formalizing of this drug consumption room is a reflection of the urgent need to provide a safe space to use drugs.

The post Inside a Busy Safe Consumption Site in Portugal appeared first on Filter.

Republican Governor Phil Scott has vowed to block the measure, H. 72. “I just don’t think a government entity should be in the business of enabling those who are addicted to these drugs that are illegal,” he said.

But advocates for H. 72 told Filter they believe they have enough votes in the legislature to override a veto, which would require two-thirds support. Democrats hold supermajorities in the Vermont House and Senate, and have overridden Gov. Scott’s vetoes on other matters.

“We did the research. Trust the science!”

State Representative Taylor Small (D), who sponsored the legislation, points to the severity of the overdose crisis as demanding this response.

“Now is the time for us to act,” she told Filter.

Small and other lawmakers looked to Rhode Island, New York City, and even rural Canada, with demographic characteristics closer to Vermont’s own rural population, as their models. “We did the research,” Small said. “Trust the science! That’s our go-to motto.”

A wealth of evidence has demonstrated that safe consumption sites save lives, among other benefits, and without the negative outcomes that opponents predict. People can use state-banned drugs at the facilities, with trained staff and resources on hand to prevent harms. The first two sanctioned OPC in the United States opened in Manhattan in late 2021, and had averted over 1,000 overdoses by August 2023. More than 200 OPC, some of them established for years, operate in 14 countries worldwide.

Vermont’s bill earmarks $2 million in funding for two locations, a facility in Burlington, and another in the state’s south, reports Champlain Valley News. If it becomes law, Vermont will join Rhode Island and Minnesota among states to authorize the sites (Manhattan’s are sanctioned by New York City).

Ahead of the vote, House members gave emotional testimony. Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (D) spoke about witnessing deaths in her small town of Brattleboro. “In the last 10 years I watched those children die. I’ve also grieved the deaths of my friends’ precious children, of my own loved ones, of clients. And we can’t go on like this.”

“Vermont has experienced incredible growth in overdoses. OPCs are a part of the solution.”

Vermont’s overdose fatalities surged by 359 percent between 2000 and 2018, according to the Vera Institute. The Vermont Department of Health recently found that rates of deaths involving xylazine and gabapentin as well as opioids are on the rise, signaling an ever riskier drug supply.

“Vermont has experienced incredible growth in overdoses over the last decade,” Grey Gardner, senior policy counsel at the Drug Policy Alliance, told Filter. “OPCs are a part of the solution to the overdose crisis. OPCs are vital for saving lives and improving access to care. Around the world, they are saving lives and communities.”

Vermont is undertaking other evidence-based approaches to the overdose crisis and related harms. The state has expanded its syringe access program, and legislators have passed a criminal immunity measure to help people who want to test their drugs for unwanted substances.

House Republicans argued against OPC during the hearings. “Passage of H.72 will make Vermont drug dealers very happy,” said Rep. Arthur Peterson, according to Valley News. “We are creating a situation where valued human beings are being seated on a plane with no pilot, no engine and no wings,” said Rep. Gina Galfetti.

But in 2023, the federal government, for the first time, allocated $5 million over four years to study the impact of the two OPC in New York City and a site in Providence, Rhode Island. Researchers are analyzing the impact on overdose rates, and the balance of savings and costs of the sites, including their impact on the criminal justice system, the Associated Press reported.

“The status quo is not saving lives.” 

Rep. Small is confident that the bill will ultimately pass with enough support to override the governor’s veto. She chalks up the popularity of the legislation to two factors: Vermont’s truly catastrophic overdose fatality rate—“We lead the nation”—and a reframe of messaging that better communicates what OPC do.

“’Safe injection sites’ … I can see why people are against them,” Small said. “It sounds like a person just goes to shoot up and that’s it. There’s stigma to ‘safe injection sites’ and that designation doesn’t describe the fullness of services in these overdose prevention centers.”

These services include treatment, physical care and therapy, among others.

Advocates for establishing OPC in Vermont believe that Rep. Galfetti’s pilotless aircraft analogy about the facilities better describes the way things are right now.

“The status quo,” Small said, “is not saving lives.”

Photograph of Vermont State House in Montpelier by Justin A. Wilcox via Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons 4.0

The Drug Policy Alliance previously provided a restricted grant to The Influence Foundation, which operates Filter, to support a Drug War Journalism Diversity Fellowship.

The post Vermont on the Verge of Authorizing Safe Consumption Sites appeared first on Filter.