By Elise Thompson, Staff Writer
Over the past year, nonprofit Safehouse has been fighting a battle for a supervised injection site, or SIS, at Constitution Health Plaza in Philadelphia. This week, the battle intensified.
In February 2019, U.S. Attorney William McSwain, attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, filed a suit asking the U.S. to find SISs such as Safehouse’s proposed one illegal under 21 U.S.C. §856(a). However, on February 25th, United States District Court Judge Gerald A. McHugh ruled in favor of Safehouse over officials at the Justice Department. His ruling pointed out that “the ultimate goal of Safehouse’s proposed operation is to reduce drug use, not facilitate it” and thus it did not violate §856(a).
The decision to locate the center in South Philadelphia, rather than in the Kensington area, has caused some controversy in community spaces. Safehouse defended their decision, citing budgetary concerns, and promised that this would only be the first of many sites. The question of whether Constitution Health Plaza will allow Safehouse to build is also up in the air: due to residential concerns, as of Feb 15th, it is no longer allowing building to continue.
As of February 27th, plans are on hold yet again after McSwain announced his appeal of the ruling. Earlier this month, he described the site as “in-your-face illegal activity” enabling drugs. “These folks have good intentions and they’re trying their best to combat the opioid epidemic, but this step of opening an injection site crosses the line,” said McSwain.
Attorney Ronda Goldfein, on Safehouse’s board, defended the site. “Three to four people die of overdose every day in Philadelphia, and with numbers like these, we are compelled to act.”
In Canada and Europe, injection sites are common, but none have opened so far in the US. A roundup by Science Direct found that Supervised injection services, or SISs, do not create crime, and are associated with “reduced levels of public drug injections and dropped syringes.” 1,116 people died of drug overdoses in Philadelphia in 2018.
Safehouse has yet to issue an official response as of publication.
Image credit: Philly Voice
