Fate of Philly safe consumption site now hinges on judge’s ruling

Safehouse has long maintained that drug use at its site would be incidental to its primary goal — which is to save lives
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Friday, September 6, 2019

us philly overdose prevention siteNearly two years after Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said his office would not stand in the way of a safe consumption site (SCS) to help cut the city’s record overdose levels, the fate of Safehouse, which would be America’s first officially sanctioned SCS, is now in the hands of a federal judge. On September 5, for the second time in as many weeks, US Attorney Bill McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania argued in Philadelphia’s Federal Courthouse for the judge to rule in favor of an injunction filed by McSwain’s office to prevent Safehouse from opening in the overdose-ravaged neighborhood of Kensington.