A federal judge has ruled that the nation’s first supervised injection site in Philadelphia does not violate federal law.
A non-profit called Safehouse lobbied the city government to allow them to open a site where addicts could administer heroin and other drugs under medical supervision in a safe environment.
The safe injection sites will also offer standby to revive any addicts who overdose from taking drugs as well as offer treatment services.
U.S. District Attorney William M. McSwain said that he intends to appeal the ruling, claiming that safe injection facilities would promote drug use and lead to crime in the surrounding area.
He’s also threatened arrests, drug seizures, and criminal forfeitures at the safe injection site if it begins operation before his appeal is processed and judicially reviewed.
Neighborhood groups and anti-drug activists have also protested the supervised injection site vociferously.
Although Thailand’s drug laws are among the strictest in the world, there are signs that is changing. Thailand legalized medical marijuana in December 2018.
Despite the threats and uproar, Safehouse plans to push forward noting that literal lives are at stake.
In just the past three years, Philadelphia has seen over 3,500 overdose deaths as the opioid epidemic spreads through the city–about one person dies per week from an overdose in the area around the safe injection site.
This is the first ruling in the US about the legality of places where addicts can go to use illicit drugs under medical supervision.
Although the city government of Philadelphia will not offer to fund the site, it will sanction the site to carry out overdose prevention.
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