Court rejects supervised injection site

A divided appeals court on

Tuesday rejected a plan to open a supervised injection site in Philadelphia to try to reduce overdose deaths, concluding the operation would violate a 1980s-era drug law aimed at “crackhouses.”

The 2-1 decision proved the latest setback for city officials, an ex-governor and public health advocates who support the Safehouse plan as more than 100 people die in the U.S. each day from drug overdoses. They have faced opposition from U.S. Attorney William McSwain, an appointee of President Donald Trump, and neighborhoods where they hoped to open.

U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, a former law professor, said the nonprofit group’s worthy goals do not negate the existing law.

“Its motives are admirable. But Congress has made it a crime to open a property to others to use drugs,” Bibas wrote for the 3rd U.S. Circuit panel, overturning a district judge who found the plan legal given its

goal of reducing drug use — not promoting it — through counseling and other services.

Under the Safehouse plan, people could bring drugs to the clinic-like setting, use them in a partitioned bay and get medical help if they overdose. They would also have access to counseling, treatment and other health services.

McSwain went to court himself to challenge the proposal, a move top prosecutors typically reserve only for the highest-priority cases. He called Tuesday’s ruling “consistent with Congress’s intent to protect American neighborhoods from the scourge of concentrated drug use.”

It’s not clear how long McSwain will remain in the post after President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The case, for now, returns to District Judge Gerald A. McHugh for further action. Safehouse organizers could also ask the full 3rd U.S. Circuit Court to hear the case.