U.S. Attorney to act on supervised injection sites in Philadelphia
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com
Federal authorities are expected to announce a civil enforcement action Wednesday that could stop Philadelphia from becoming home to the nation’s first supervised drug injection site. U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain has scheduled a news conference for 10:30 a.m. to announce the steps his office is taking. A press release issued by his spokesperson did not outline specifics of his plan or whether it will target Safehouse, the nonprofit founded last year by a coalition of local advocates to manage such a facility amid an opioid epidemic that has led to thousands of overdose deaths.
In an interview with the Inquirer last fall, McSwain described the idea of a supervised-injection site as “fundamentally illegal.” Though he declined at the time to identify any specific steps he might take to stop supporters from moving forward with their plans, he said he was considering a range of options including injunctions, criminal prosecution and forfeiture proceedings. "The bottom line is that the sort of facility that is being proposed is illegal under federal law," the U.S. attorney said. "We're not going to look the other way."
Still, backers of the proposal have pressed forward as they struggle to combat an opioid crisis that has resisted traditional prevention measures. Within the last year a coalition of local advocates, including former Gov. Ed Rendell, have incorporated the Safehouse nonprofit to oversee the site, hired an executive director and launched a fundraising effort to amass $1.8 million they say they will need to operate the facility in its first 12 months.
No site has been announced, but the nonprofit’s board has indicated it’s likely to open in Kensington, the neighborhood that has become both the center and public symbol of the city’s deadly opioid epidemic. "Philadelphians are dying at an alarming rate," said Jose Benitez, president and treasurer of Safehouse, in October. A supervised injection facility “is one response to that,” he said. “It's just one of many responses that we need in the city."
Read more: https://www.philly.com/news/supervised-injection-sites-philadelphia-stop-safehouse-us-attorney-opioid-crisis-20190206.html
Got a breaking news banner locally on this one. This has been bubbling under the radar here in Philly for some time and suddenly seemed to catch someone's attention from the Administration.
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