Despite strong opposition from the government, Philadelphia charity Safehouse intends to open a first-of-its-kind facility where people can inject opioids under medical supervision.
“Our purpose is to save lives,” said Ronda Goldfein, the group’s vice president. “We have a crisis. We will open.”
Safehouse would allow drug users to inject their own opiates with clean needles provided by the center while in the presence of healthcare professionals standing by with overdose-reversal drugs. The hope is to reduce the risk of fatal overdoses in the streets as well as the transmission of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.
The organization is closer than ever to opening its doors after a yearlong court battle with the federal government. U.S. Attorney William McSwain said last year that Safehouse is in violation of the Controlled Substances Act’s “crackhouse statute,” devised at the height of the 1980s crack epidemic, which makes it illegal to manage a site for the purpose of using illegal drugs.
The government has argued that a supervised injection site would encourage opioid abuse rather than prevent fatal overdoses. For instance, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote in the New York Times in August 2018 that safe injection sites “are very dangerous and would only make the opioid crisis worse.”
“They invite visitors to use heroin, fentanyl, and other deadly drugs without fear of arrest,” Rosenstein wrote. “The policy is ‘B.Y.O.D.’ — bring your own drugs — but staff members help people abuse drugs by providing needles and stand ready to resuscitate addicts who overdose.”
Still, Safehouse’s lawyers presented to Eastern District Judge Gerald McHugh in October that the organization’s purpose is to prevent overdose and disease, not to promote illegal drug use. They filed a motion last week asking McHugh to declare that they have the legal authority to open the first site to the public. Goldfein said the legal team is optimistic that McHugh will rule in Safehouse’s favor.
The organization’s troubles don’t end with legal battles, though. Goldfein said they are short of the funding necessary to keep the first site open long term. After Safehouse won tax-exempt status from the IRS, the team saw a rise in donations to fund the site, but not enough.
“We still get small showings of support. We get small checks and some foundation support. I’m hoping if we can get open and stay open, that’ll show funders we’re legit,” Goldfein said.
Running a charity that is operational at all hours every day is a costly enterprise. The Safehouse board of directors will have to bring in healthcare professionals trained to assist users in need of emergency care as well as find a suitable location for the center so that it’s accessible to as many users as possible.
The board has not yet settled on a location, though, and there are several neighborhoods in Philadelphia to choose from that need their help. The likely spot for the first center to open is in Kensington, a neighborhood in Philadelphia that has been hit so hard by the opioid crisis that Mayor Jim Kenney declared a disaster there due to opioid overdoses in October 2018.
The neighborhood is home to the nation’s largest open-air drug market, in which dealers publicly advertise their products and users administer drugs on the sidewalks.
“The Philadelphia health department put out a map of ‘hot zones,’ and there are areas in Kensington that are blaring red hot, and I think we need to go where the data shows us,” Goldfein said. “But there are places that are in second and third places, places where we need to be thinking about providing some services there, too.”
Goldfein said she and the team are working to secure a facility so that it can open as soon as possible, and a probable challenge by McSwain will not deter them.
Safehouse’s legal team anticipates further opposition from federal attorneys, taking both parties to the 3rd District Court of Appeals, but plans to move forward in opening the first site even while in litigation. Goldfein said the need for Safehouse’s services is too great to postpone opening much further.
“People are injecting eight to 10 times a day,” Goldfein said. “Your entire life is consumed by fear of withdrawal, hustling for money, buying, using, it’s an endless cycle. But when in that cycle are you taking a deep breath and saying, ‘is it possible that I can have a different life?’”
