Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
Safe Injection Sites For Drug Use Could Soon Be Legal In California
Gov. Gavin Newsom will decide whether the state will be allowed to loosen prohibitions on safe injection sites.
(
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
)
A bill allowing drug users to safely inject themselves at supervised facilities has passed the state Senate and is awaiting Governor Gavin Newsom's signature.
Senate Bill 57 would allow Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco to run pilot overdose prevention programs for the next six years. It would also require them to report back on the effectiveness and community impact of their programs.
The sites would be equipped with staff, sterile supplies, and referrals to substance use treatment programs. Site staff would also be trained to administer drugs like naloxone in the event of an overdose.
Ricky Bluthenthal, a professor of public health sciences at USC, said fentanyl now dominates the illicit drug market in L.A., and that interventions like this could help to prevent more fatalities.
Support for LAist comes from
"When we engage with the population and make available to them the resources they need to take care of themselves, they use them as designed and have been very successful. So this is just the next iteration in that effort to give them the things they need,” said Bluthenthal.
Around 10,000 people died from overdoses in California between October 2020 and September 2021, according to the California Department of Public Health. Half of those deaths were attributed to fentanyl.
“This legislation isn’t about whether we want people to use drugs,” Sen. Scott Wiener, who authored the bill, said in a press release. “Rather, it’s an acknowledgment that people are using drugs, and our choice is whether we want to make every effort to help them survive and get healthy.”
Opponents argue that the sites will be ineffective and increase drug use and illegal activity in the surrounding areas.
"Safe’ injection sites are not a panacea for our burgeoning drug crisis, they are a symbol of California’s self-inflicted decline,” Joshua Hoover, a candidate running for California State Assembly District 7, posted on Twitter.
If Newsom signs, California would follow in the footsteps of Rhode Island, which has legalized supervised injection sites in the state, and New York City, which earlier this year opened the first sites in the country.
Support for LAist comes from
Corrected August 5, 2022 at 3:14 PM PDT
An earlier version of this story misspelled Ricky Bluthenthal's last name. LAist regrets the error.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
Best of LAist