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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is reportedly wavering on the idea of signing a bill to create a safe drug consumption site pilot program<\/a> that was delivered to his desk last week, apparently fearful of possible political fallout despite polling data showing the harm reduction centers enjoy bipartisan voter support.<\/p>\n As the governor has raised his national profile in recent months, generating speculation about a possible run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024 if President Joe Biden bows out, he\u2019s facing pressure from reform advocates and health officials to put a stamp of approval on the safe consumption site legislation from Sen. Scott Wiener (D).<\/p>\n The bill would authorize San Francisco, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and Oakland to open harm reduction centers under an initial pilot program, lasting through January 1, 2028. At those centers, people could use currently illicit drugs in a medically supervised environment where staff would be trained to prevent and respond to overdoses and provide treatment resources.<\/p>\n It\u2019s exactly the type of bold drug policy reform that advocates hope Newsom will lead on, especially given his record of going out in front of issues like same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization before they enjoyed supermajority voter support across the country. But according to sources close to the governor who spoke with The San Francisco Chronicle in recent days, Newsom is \u201chesitating\u201d<\/a> because he\u2019s concerned about potential political repercussions.<\/p>\n URGENT \u2013 There are rumors that Gov. Newsom may veto #SB57<\/a>, the lifesaving bill that would open overdose prevention programs in LA, SF, & Oakland. He has until Aug 22 to sign this bill and we need your help to ensure that he does. Sign the petition now: https:\/\/t.co\/TzLHZAo3El<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/CR0bJtDG0B<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Drug Policy Alliance (@DrugPolicyOrg) August 14, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Yet polling on the issue shows that most of the public is already on board with the harm reduction policy, with 64 percent of Americans saying that they support opening overdose prevention sites<\/a>. That includes 81 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of independents and a plurality of 49 percent of Republicans.<\/p>\n Via Data For Progress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Around the time that Newsom was advocating for equal rights for same-sex couples as mayor of San Francisco, only 42 percent of Americans were on his side, as the Chronicle noted. While serving as lieutenant governor of California, he was among the most high-profile politicians to back marijuana legalization, denouncing the \u201cabject failure\u201d of prohibition and convening a blue ribbon panel that helped inform the drafting of an adult-use cannabis initiative that voters approved in 2016.<\/p>\n With public support already there for safe consumption sites\u2014and Newsom\u2019s decades-long reputation as a critic of the drug war on the line\u2014it becomes difficult to square his apparent indecision on the legislation that\u2019s on his desk. He has until August 22 to sign it, veto it or let it take effect without his signature.<\/p>\n Wiener, the bill sponsor, told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Monday that he\u2019s sure the governor is \u201cevaluating\u201d the proposal, and that he will ultimately make an informed decision that aligns with his reform background.<\/p>\n \u201cThis governor has been a strong supporter of progressive drug policy and harm reduction. This bill is right up his alley,\u201d the senator said. \u201cAll we can do is make the case to the governor that this is a good idea. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Marijuana Moment reached out to Newsom\u2019s office for comment, but representatives did not respond by the time of publication.<\/p>\n To advocates, the assumption that there\u2019s a significant political risk associated with embracing harm reduction models for drug policy isn\u2019t just reductive, it\u2019s misconceived. Polling aside, Newsom has proved along the way on his path to the governorship that taking pro-reform positions even before they\u2019re widely accepted by the public can result in positive, political payout.<\/p>\n Most people agree that criminalizing people over low-level drug possession is ineffective and that a public health-centered approach to drug-related violations is superior to leaving the issue to the criminal legal system. Newsom has consistently held that position, even before it became a mainstream (and increasingly bipartisan) stance.<\/p>\n \u201cAbject failure\u201d is the term of art that Newsom has used for decades to describe the drug war. As mayor of San Francisco in 2007, he shamed<\/a> fellow Democrats who refused to concede that point, calling it \u201claughable\u201d that anyone would claim that criminalizing and incarcerating people over drugs would stamp out crime and addiction.<\/p>\n The war on drugs has been an abject failure\u2026it’s been a war on people of color and a war on poor people.<\/p>\n \u2014 Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 6, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n And while he hasn\u2019t publicly commented on the specific safe consumption site bill at this point, Newsom has weighed in on the policy before. When San Francisco moved to open such centers, the then-lieutenant governor said<\/a> in<\/a> 2018 that he was \u201cvery, very open\u201d to the \u201cnovel strategy\u201d\u2014unlike his predecessor Gov. Jerry Brown (D) who vetoed a bill to authorize the city to launch a pilot program.<\/p>\n Wiener, for his part, has heavily invested himself in drug policy reform in the legislature. For example, he championed what would have been a historic bill to legalize psychedelics possession by adults that was significantly watered down in an Assembly committee last week before being shelved by the sponsor<\/a>.<\/p>\n The senator said that, as a generally matter, he understands that legislation that deals with drug use \u201cis always on one level controversial.\u201d<\/p>\n However, \u201cwe also know that voters have in California and elsewhere have been very consistent in supporting a new approach to drug use and addiction,\u201d he said. \u201cI think people overwhelmingly understand that the war on drugs has been an abject failure and waste of money.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery politically contentious issue has pros and cons to it. I understand the governor is in a tight spot here. There are people who love this bill and there are people who don\u2019t,\u201d Wiener said. \u201cBut in a way, when you have bill with strong opinions on both sides, it creates space as a policymaker to just do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n If Newsom signs the bill into law, California wouldn\u2019t be the first state to create such a pilot program. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) signed a similar harm reduction bill last year. What\u2019s more, the first sanctioned overdose prevention sites in the U.S.<\/a> opened in New York City late last year, and local health officials have affirmed that the programs are saving lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n In fact, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), a retired police officer known for his law-and-order ideology, has proposed keeping the sites open for 24-hours after seeing both the demand for the services and the overdose prevention efficacy.<\/p>\n \u201cThat speaks volumes because he knows that these sites have been very successful in New York City in the nearly one year that they\u2019ve been in effect,\u201d Wiener said. \u201cWhatever the controversy, this is an idea that a lot of different people can get behind.\u201d<\/p>\n A study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) last month found that the those safe consumption drug sites have, in fact, decreased overdose risk<\/a>, steered people away from using in public and provided other ancillary health services to people who use currently illicit substances.<\/p>\n The research letter, published in AMA\u2019s Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at data the New York City data over the course of two months. It found that trained staff at the sites intervened in 125 instances to mitigate overdose risk, administering naloxone and oxygen and providing other services to prevent deaths.<\/p>\n While New York is allowing the harm reduction centers to operate,\u00a0federal statute has been interpreted as barring such facilities, and\u00a0the Justice Department is actively in litigation<\/a>\u00a0that started during the Trump administration over a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization\u2019s attempt to open a safe consumption site.<\/p>\n However, the White House drug czar recently said that the Biden administration is reviewing broader drug policy harm reduction proposals<\/a>, including the authorization of supervised consumption sites\u2014and he went so far as to suggest possible decriminalization.<\/p>\n \u2014 While the Biden administration is still investigating the clinical efficacy of such facilities, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Rahul Gupta said that the proposal to lift the existing federal ban is on the table.<\/p>\n DOJ said in February that it is actively \u201cevaluating supervised consumption sites<\/a>, including discussions with state and local regulators about appropriate guardrails for such sites, as part of an overall approach to harm reduction and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n In October, the Supreme Court\u00a0rejected a request to hear a case<\/a>\u00a0on the legality of establishing the Safehouse facilities, but the case is still before a lower federal court. Safehouse plaintiffs say that\u00a0they\u2019ve had \u201cproductive\u201d conversations with DOJ<\/a>\u00a0in recent months, which is part of the reason why they\u2019ve mutually agreed to extend the deadline for a federal response in the case several times.<\/p>\n The National Institutes of Health (NIH)\u00a0put out a pair of requests for applications<\/a>\u00a0(RFAs) in December for an effort that will provide funding for efforts to investigate how that and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.<\/p>\n Gupta previously said that it\u2019s critical to explore \u201cany and every option\u201d to reduce overdose deaths, and that\u00a0could include allowing safe consumption sites<\/a>\u00a0for illegal substances if the evidence supports their efficacy.<\/p>\n The secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra, has also signaled that the Biden administration would not move to block the establishment safe injection sites, stressing that \u201cwe are literally trying to give users a lifeline.\u201d<\/p>\n But a department spokesperson\u00a0later walked those remarks back<\/a>, stating that \u201cHHS does not have a position on supervised consumption sites\u201d and the \u201cissue is a matter of ongoing litigation.\u201d In any case, it would be up to DOJ to decide whether to pursue operators of the facilities under the Controlled Substances Act.<\/p>\n When Becerra served as California attorney general he signed onto a brief with counterparts from other states when the Safehouse case was before a federal appeals court.<\/p>\n \u201cThe opioid epidemic has devastated communities throughout our nation. Safe injection sites aim to increase public health and safety by providing comprehensive services to victims of the opioid epidemic, while reducing the public nuisance of drug use in public spaces,\u201d he\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0at the time. \u201cSafe injection sites like Safehouse are an innovative tool to combat the opioid epidemic and drug dependency while reducing overdose death and transmission of diseases. California has always been a trailblazer, and we\u2019re committed to doing what it takes to keep our communities healthy and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a New York Assembly committee also advanced a bill in May to establish a\u00a0statewide safe consumption site program<\/a>, allowing regulators to authorize facilities where people could use currently illicit drugs in a medically supervised environment.<\/p>\n In a setback for advocates, however, Vermont\u2019s governor vetoed a bill in June that would have simply created a working group tasked with crafting a plan to open safe consumption sites<\/a>.<\/p>\n North Dakota Voters Will Decide On Marijuana Legalization At The Ballot This November, State Certifies<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post California Governor Hesitates To Sign Safe Drug Consumption Site Bill Even As Polling Shows Voters Support It<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is reportedly wavering on the idea of signing a bill to create a safe drug consumption site pilot program that was delivered to his desk last week, apparently fearful of possible political fallout despite polling data showing the harm reduction centers enjoy bipartisan voter support.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":56592,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56593,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56591\/revisions\/56593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: California Governor Hesitates To Sign Safe Drug Consumption Site Bill Even As Polling Shows Voters Support It<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"