States consider `safe injection sites' to prevent overdoses

In a Colorado mountain town, Christine Collins injected herself with black tar heroin while hanging out with friends in her cozy basement a few days after her 30th birthday. Sitting beneath a Happy Birthday sign with hearts scrawled in colorful sharpies, she overdosed.

She awoke to the screams of her friends who fumbled to administer doses of naloxone, which reversed the overdose and pulled Collins back from near death. She has seen dozens of friends wake up from overdoses, and known dozens more that never did.

Such scenes of terror have increasingly played out from Denver's snow-filled streets to rural towns in West Virginia, with drug overdoses killing over an estimated 100,000 people in 2021, according federal health official's latest data. That's roughly one overdose death every five minutes.

The snowballing death toll has pushed lawmakers in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada to consider joining New York and Rhode Island in allowing what are often called “safe injection sites.” Also called “overdose prevention centers,” these are places where people can use drugs under the supervision of trained staff who could reverse an overdose if necessary.

Lawmakers in Colorado's Democrat-controlled Legislature are set to discuss the controversial proposal Wednesday as the measure faces steep odds amid broad backlash from police, Republicans, and lingering questions about whether the sites are even legal in the United States.

The idea of sanctioning the use of drugs including heroin and methamphetamine on these sites — an about-face from the longwaged war on drugs — has garnered stiff pushback.

“You're basically sending a message that, `Hey, it's okay to do this,' which has a negative impact on the users' health, it encourages the drug dealer, and then it still provides that danger to the rest of the community,” said Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican and former police officer.

But proponents argue it's an imperative first step to tackling drug use, with many repeating a one-argument refrain.

“You can't enter treatment if you are dead,” said Dr. Joshua Barocas, an associate professor at the University of Colorado who studies substance use disorder. “All the data suggests that people are going to do drugs regardless... All we are trying to do is reverse the harm that could come from what people are already doing.”

The trend is growing internationally with centers in Canada, Australia and Europe.