San Francisco could soon be the first city in the nation to open what are known as supervised injection sites, where addicts can shoot up indoors under the care of trained medical staff. The plan, both controversial and illegal in the U.S., aims to reduce the number of overdose deaths in the San Francisco as well as the staggering amount of used needles scattered across the city.
Taskforce Recommends "Multiple" Drug Sites in SF
"We need a new solution," said Dr. Alex Kral, an infectious disease specialist with the nonprofit research institute RTI International. "Even just adding one of these sites to San Francisco would save the city $3.5 million dollars a year because of the savings in reduced HIV, viral hepatitis, and overdoses."
Kral, who has been studying drug use in San Francisco for 25 years, was one of 15 people to serve on a government task force aimed at studying supervised injection sites and their potential impacts to drug users and the community. The panel, which included representatives from San Francisco's police and health departments, recommend the city open "multiple safe injection service sites."
San Francisco to Open Nation's First Supervised Drug Sites
San Francisco now plans to open two supervised injection sites by August, which would likely be followed by several more within the next year. The move is a response to an explosion of public drug use and the dangerous paraphernalia that is often left behind on San Francisco's streets and sidewalks.
"How about finding another way to save their lives other than offering them their poison?" said Bishop Ron Allen, who heads the International Faith Based Coalition, a drug prevention group in Sacramento that boasts 6,000 members nationwide and opposes supervised injection sites.
