U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says the government will take legal action against cities and countries that open injection sites for drug users.
In an op-ed published on Monday in The New York Times, Rosenstein called the injection sites “dangerous” and claimed that they “would only make the opioid crisis worse.”
The so-called “safe injection sites” allow drug users to inject themselves with their own heroin, fentanyl, and other drugs with provided needles and under supervision and are typically government-funded.
Rosenstein called the injection sites illegal and claimed, “It is a federal felony to maintain any location for the purpose of facilitating illicit drug use.” He added that “cities and counties should expect the Department of Justice to meet the opening of any injection site with swift and aggressive action.”
He also claimed that injection sites “create serious public safety risks,” citing the threat claiming “a bystander or emergency medical worker who comes into contact with such drugs can be gravely harmed.”
Rosenstein called for an end to the drug crisis but says injection sites are not the solution. “Americans struggling with addiction need treatment and reduced access to deadly drugs,” Rosenstein wrote. “They do not need a taxpayer-sponsored haven to shoot up.”
Safe injection sites have been proposed in several cities, including San Francisco; the California State Senate passed a bill last week to give legal immunity to drug users who use the centers.
California State Sen. Scott Wiener, whose district includes San Francisco, took to Twitter to respond to the op-ed, calling it “atrociously misinformed,” and claimed that “safe injection sites are successful & save lives wherever they’re implemented.”
“Threatening criminal prosecution – the Trump drug addiction strategy – isn’t how you break addiction,” he said in another tweet. “We tried that – the War on Drugs – & it failed. Let’s try strategies that actually work.”
In an interview with Politico, Wiener pointed out that the federal government and California have clashed over drug policy before. “The fact the federal government is backwards on so many issues has never been an obstacle to California moving in a progressive direction,” he said.
A meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Drug Policy found that the sites had “no effect on overdose mortality or syringe/equipment sharing.”
In May, the mayor of New York City announced a plan to open injection sites. Several other states and cities have also explored the possibility of opening sites, including Seattle, Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine.