Sign SB 57 to reduce the harm of drugs

Everyone can agree that something needs to be done to end the scourge of drug addiction in society.

Everyone can agree that too many lives are being lost to drug overdoses, particularly fentanyl.

And everyone can agree that public drug consumption is at best a nuisance, at worst a tragic reflection of social fragmentation.

According to the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard, over 5,500 lives were lost to opioid overdoses in 2020. Most of those, 3,946, were related to fentanyl. More than 16,500 emergency room admissions in 2020 were also linked to opioid overdoses.

Behind all of these numbers are not only people and real suffering, but also strains on medical and policing services.

While there is no panacea, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has championed the piloting of overdose prevention programs in some of the state’s major jurisdictions.

Senate Bill 57 would authorize the city and county of San Francisco, the city and county of Los Angeles and the city of Oakland to permit the establishment of programs whereby local organizations establish safe and secure places, staffed by professionals, where people can bring and consume drugs they would already be using, except under supervision. These individuals would be provided sterile drug consumption devices, including syringes. If an individual were to overdose on opioids, they would be administered life-saving opioid antagonist drugs. And, critically, they would also be provided referrals to seek treatment for their addictions.

We understand the kneejerk reactions to such a proposal. It merely enables drug abuse, some may say.

But we encourage people to keep in mind the reality that this bill is trying to address.

Dr. David Goodman, a physician and expert on addiction, told us that these kinds of sites are the people at the furthest end of addiction. These are people who are openly injecting drugs in the streets.

If you are concerned about drug abuse, it is important to connect people with drug abuse issues to help.

The sites SB 57 proposes have the potential to connect with people with drug addictions in ways the criminal justice system cannot. Not everyone will take up referrals to addiction services, but some will and that can be a life changer for many and an obvious benefit for society.

There’s the obvious tangential benefit of providing a space outside of public view, which will spare children on their way to schools, for example, from having to see open drug abuse.

Additionally, such facilities can play a critical role in preventing the spread of diseases often linked to the reusing of drug paraphernalia, including HIV and hepatitis. And most of all, they can help save lives by promptly responding to overdoses if necessary.

“If we can agree that arresting and incarcerating people is a failed policy,” explained Sen. Wiener to us, then we’re halfway there. “Let’s treat addiction for what it is, which is a health issue. These sites are a proven model to connect people to treatment, to keep people alive.”

Indeed, countries around the world utilize such facilities to reduce the harms of drug abuse and help link drug addicted people to services they need. SB 57 strikes the right balance of having a relatively limited scope and requiring a formal evaluation of the effectiveness of programs after a certain period of time.

Instead of pretending we can arrest our way out of the problem of drug abuse and addiction, let’s try an evidence-based approach to save lives and reduce the harms of drug abuse.

SB 57 should be signed into law.