Rhode Island is launching a new program in hopes of reducing the amount of harm drug users cause. The state will begin creating supervised spaces for drug users to inject illegal drugs.
The injection sites will allow those who take drugs like heroin and methamphetamine under the supervision of trained personnel. This will allow staff to administer the antidote naloxone if they start to overdose, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The program is a two-year pilot, the first in the state, and would create safe sites for users. The sites could also test drugs for potentially fatal doses of fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that increased overdose deaths to a nationwide high in 2020.
Some cities have attempted to legalize supervised injection sites, but they have been blocked by legislation. Massachusetts and California are on the list of states considering similar sites.
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Those in support of the injection sites say that having a safe space to take these drugs could prevent overdose deaths and provide an access point to other services that can help prevent harm to users, like housing, medical care, and treatment, the Journal reported.
Those opposed to the sites say there is no evidence they would significantly reduce illegal drug use or dependency. Democratic State Representative Arthur Corvese said that having rules set for most people and a space for some to break them doesn’t make sense.
“There’s almost like a moral oxymoron going on here,” Corvese said to the Journal.
While other cities like Philadelphia have had legal issues setting the sites up, the state government may see more success, the Journal reported.
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Advocates say that Rhode Island’s law is the most direct test of whether or not the legal-consumption sites can reduce overdose deaths and harm to drug users.
Another Democratic state representative, Edith Ajello, said she is in support of the sites after her best friend’s son died from an overdose during the pandemic.
“Supervised consumption sites can help to cut these losses,” she said.
The road work has been set to implement these sites, and soon they will be put into action across the state of Rhode Island, barring and legal stoppages.
