Are supervised injection sites a good idea?

BY ERIKA NORTON
Opioid addiction and overdose deaths have continued to increase nationwide, leading some government officials to consider new approaches to combat the epidemic, including here in New York.
Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan to open four safe injection centers where drug users can use opioids under supervision of medical professionals who can intervene if the person overdoses and can connect them to treatment programs.
The goal of these sites is to reduce the adverse health, social and economic effects of drug use without requiring abstinence from drug use, but helping to steer users into treatment.
Supervised injection sites have been considered successful in a number of cities in Canada, and are being considered in major U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Philadelphia and Seattle.
However, there are a number of hurdles, both legal and in the arena of public opinion, that will need to be crossed before these facilities come to the states, including New York City.
In Canada, supervised injection sites are explicitly exempt from prosecution under federal drug laws.
In the U.S., a provision of the federal Controlled Substances Act makes it illegal to operate facilities where drugs are used. Possession of heroin is also illegal.
Other government officials are worried this approach would do more to increase the problem.
Last year, Vermont U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan said in a statement that safe injection sites “would encourage and normalize heroin use, thereby increasing demand for opiates and, by extension, risk of overdose and overdose deaths.”
Problem in New YorkBut with the opioid epidemic getting worse, Mayor de Blasio says supervised injection sites will help.
“What’s clear to me is this will save lives,” he said earlier this month. “We will see a number of people who would otherwise have died of an overdose be in a setting where they can be saved.”
Outside of New York City, the rest of the state saw a rate of 13 opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 residents in 2015.
Orange County was even worse, with 17.5 opioid overdose per 100,000 residents.
What do you think? Are you in favor of supervised injection sites?