Bill would test injection sites for addicts

Supervised centers in 8 counties would offer drug treatment by 2022 under proposal.

SACRAMENTO — Supervised drug injection centers where users would be able to receive addiction treatment could be coming to California.

Legislation written by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (DStockton) would allow eight counties — Alameda, Fresno, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Francisco, San Joaquin and Santa Cruz — to pilot supervised drug injection centers by 2022.

The bill, which has passed the Assembly, is awaiting a vote in the state Senate. “Let’s get needles out of the playground,” Eggman said at a Thursday news conference at the Capitol. “Let’s save some peoples’ lives and get people into treatment.”

There are no supervised injection centers in the U.S. Two safe-injection sites have been proposed in Washington state’s King County, and opponents have qualified a ballot initiative to allow voters to determine whether the centers should be banned. A handful of cities in Washington have already moved to ban safe-injection sites.

Senate Republicans have expressed concerns that Eggman’s bill would create “government-run drug dens” that support activity that violates federal law.

A coalition of Los Angeles-area law enforcement agencies that includes the California Narcotic Officers Assn., Peace Officers Assn. of Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles Police Protective League also opposes the proposed legislation.

There were 2,375 opioidrelated overdose deaths statewide in 2013, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.

“When we have an epidemic such as this ... it is time to do something different than we’ve been doing,” Eggman said.

Darryl Dyck Associated Press A MAN RESTS after injecting heroin he bought on the street at a safe-injection clinic in Vancouver, Canada, in 2011. There are no such facilities in the U.S.