Supervised drug injection site in US is almost ready to open

PHILADELPHIA » A Philadelphia nonprofit group detailed plans Wednesday to open next week what would be the nation’s first medically supervised injection site to combat overdose deaths, despite outrage from neighbors and opposition from the local federal prosecutor.

CRIME

The announcement came after a federal judge who oversaw months of litigation ruled Tuesday that the Safehouse plan wouldn’t violate federal drug laws because it aims to reduce drug use, not encourage it.

The decision to open the first site in residential south Philadelphia, and not the Kensington neighborhood north of downtown that has become the epicenter

PHILADELPHIA » A man found inside a car parked at a Philadelphia home with the engine still running and the wheels spinning was shot and killed in what authorities called “an ambush.”

The man was found around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, when police responded to the home for a reported smoke condition. of the city’s opioid problem, took many by surprise. At a heated news conference Wednesday, neighbors complained that the site selected has a day care center in the building, and schools, stores and restaurants nearby.

“We will monitor this,” said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Safehouse board member. “If problems arise, we can always

The man, who has not yet been identified, was found in the driver’s seat. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

More than 30 shots were fired by the shooter, who fled the scene and remained at large Wednesday. No other injuries were reported in the shooting.

A motive for the shooting remains under investigation. stop and go to a different location.”

Board member Ronda Goldfein said the organization wanted to start with a smaller facility, given its finances, before expanding its services to the Kensington area. The city’s 1,100 overdose deaths each year include one death per week in south Philadelphia, she said. Supporters hope those deaths could be avoided if people have medical help — and counseling and treatment when they are ready — nearby.

South Philadelphia residents at the news conference feared an increase in discarded needles, trash and crime. They also said the Safehouse organizers had not involved them in the decision.

“They don’t even know about it, and you’re opening up next week?” asked City Councilman Mark Squilla.

U.S. Attorney William

McSwain, who had challenged the plan in court, vowed to appeal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“What Safehouse proposes is a radical experiment that would invite thousands of people onto its property for the purpose of injecting illegal drugs,” McSwain said Tuesday. He said the Justice Department and U.S. surgeon general also oppose the idea.

Under the Safehouse plan, people with addiction 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.

The opening has been on hold for much of the past year while McSwain’s office argued that the plan violates a 1980s-era drug law known as the “crackhouse statute.” Safehouse lawyers said it wasn’t clearly illegal under that section of the Controlled Substances Act — which regulates the possession, use and distribution of certain drugs — to stand nearby with life-saving medical help. U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh agreed.

“The ultimate goal of Safehouse’s proposed operation is to reduce drug use, not facilitate it, and accordingly, (the law) does not prohibit Safehouse’s proposed conduct,” McHugh wrote in a preliminary ruling last fall that he affirmed this week.

Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, and District Attorney Larry Krasner also support supervised injection sites as part of a harm reduction strategy.

The facilities have long