Seattle's new war on drugs: Giving heroin addicts 'safe sites' to shoot up [View all]

[rug]

By Rick Anderson

September 21, 2016, 3:00 AM |Reporting from Seattle

September 21, 2016, 3:00 AM | Reporting from Seattle

Seattle officials are moving forward with a controversial plan for what would be the nation’s first supervised heroin-injection clinics — government-financed shooting galleries that supporters say can save lives but that critics say will only enable drug users.

A new 99-page task force study envisions at least two safe-use facilities — one in Seattle, another in the suburbs — where heroin addicts can legally take narcotics while being monitored by medical personnel who can administer aid or call 911 if needed.

The project is modeled after North America’s first supervised heroin haven, InSite, a government-funded injection facility 140 miles north in Vancouver, B.C., which in 13 years of operation has never had an overdose fatality, officials there say.

That success has inspired other cities — including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland — to consider government-approved safe sites for addicts to inject heroin. But Seattle is moving fastest, convinced there is “urgent need for action,” as the new study puts it.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-heroin-20160920-snap-story.html