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The city of San Francisco is prepared to defy the governor and launch a safe drug consumption site program despite his decision to veto a bill authorizing such facilities<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n Shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced that he had vetoed the legislation from Sen. Scott Wiener (D), San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu released a statement saying that he \u201cfully\u201d supports allowing a non-profit to move ahead with offering the harm reduction services in order to \u201csave lives.\u201d<\/p>\n He suggested that the organization could be modeled after the first sanctioned safe consumption sites that opened in New York City late last year.<\/p>\n San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) also seemed to tentatively endorse the idea, calling Newsom\u2019s veto \u201cdisappointing\u201d and writing that the city \u201cwill keep working with our community partners to find a way forward, and we will also continue to advocate to the federal government about this critical public health response.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got work to do, but we aren\u2019t stopping,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n We will keep working with our community partners to find a way forward, and we will also continue to advocate to the federal government about this critical public health response. We\u2019ve got work to do, but we aren\u2019t stopping.<\/p>\n \u2014 London Breed (@LondonBreed) August 22, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cWe remain committed to building on the city\u2019s drug overdose response to combat San Francisco\u2019s street drug crisis, save lives and help connect more people to treatment and services,\u201d Breed said<\/a> in a statement to The San Francisco Chronicle.<\/p>\n Wiener, for his part, commended the city attorney and said that, with two governors now having vetoed safe consumption site legislation, \u201cit\u2019s crystal clear the state isn\u2019t going to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n I agree with @DavidChiu<\/a>. With two successive Governors vetoing this bill, it\u2019s crystal clear the State isn\u2019t going to step up. San Francisco needs to take matters into its own hands & open up safe consumption sites to save lives. https:\/\/t.co\/A5I99TEJxA<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) August 22, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cSan Francisco needs to take matters into its own hands & open up safe consumption sites to save lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While Newsom wrote in his veto message that he doesn\u2019t feel there\u2019s \u201cstrong, engaged local leadership\u201d to sustain an effective pilot program for overdose prevention sites, advocates, health experts and local government leaders in San Francisco are challenging that perspective.<\/p>\n They argue that they\u2019ve already spent years developing the infrastructure for the harm reduction program and engaging with the legislature on SB 57. Breed had also issued an emergency ordinance early this year that effectively authorized a non-profit to open a safe consumption site called the Tenderloin Center, though there\u2019s been some criticism about the rollout of the program.<\/p>\n The San Francisco Standard reported<\/a> that there are three organizations that are considered adequately prepared to launch the sites in the city: Healthright360, Glide and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.<\/p>\n Across the Bay, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (D) called the governor\u2019s veto \u201cincredibly disappointing,\u201d but she said she was encouraged by Newsom\u2019s commitment to having the state health secretary convene local officials to develop a more limited plan with best practices in place to eventually permit safe consumption facilities.<\/p>\n Advocates are skeptical about Newsom\u2019s justification for the veto, pointing out that he\u2019s previously expressed openness to the \u201cnovel strategy\u201d and has a record of embracing bold reforms before they were widely accepted.<\/p>\n Recent reporting has suggested that the governor\u2019s hesitancy over the bill had more to do with political considerations<\/a> as he\u2019s raised his national profile, with some speculating that he\u2019s preparing for a 2024 run for the Democratic presidential nomination if President Joe Biden doesn\u2019t seek a second term.<\/p>\n Even then, however, it\u2019s hard to square the veto with the fact that polling shows a majority of Americans across political lines favor the harm reduction proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n The now-vetoed bill would have authorized San Francisco, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and Oakland to open overdose prevention sites under an initial pilot program, lasting through January 1, 2028.<\/p>\n Jurisdictions that chose to participate in the pilot program would have also needed to choose a single entity that they would have funded to conduct a peer-reviewed study of the efficacy and community impacts of authorizing the harm reduction centers statewide.<\/p>\n The measure\u2019s sponsor, Wiener, also championed a bill to legalize psychedelics possession in California that cleared the Senate and several Assembly committees. But he shelved it this month after a final committee gutted the main components,\u00a0leaving just a study component<\/a>.<\/p>\n When it comes to safe consumption sites, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D)\u00a0signed a similar harm reduction bill<\/a>\u00a0last year. And the the\u00a0first sanctioned overdose prevention sites in the U.S.<\/a>\u00a0opened in New York City late last year, with local health officials\u00a0affirming that the programs are saving lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), a retired police officer known for his law-and-order ideology, has since 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 told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview. \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\u00a0safe 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\u00a0reviewing 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\u00a0crafting a plan to open safe consumption sites<\/a>.<\/p>\n New York City Mayor Launches Marijuana Resource Hub To Support Industry Equity As State Prepares To Accept First Retailer Applications<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n IMage courtesy of Dima Solomin<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post San Francisco Officials Ready To Authorize Safe Drug Consumption Sites Despite Governor\u2019s Veto<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The city of San Francisco is prepared to defy the governor and launch a safe drug consumption site program despite his decision to veto a bill authorizing such facilities on Monday. Shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced that he had vetoed the legislation from Sen. Scott Wiener (D), SanContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":56761,"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\/56760"}],"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=56760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56762,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56760\/revisions\/56762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: San Francisco Officials Ready To Authorize Safe Drug Consumption Sites Despite Governor\u2019s Veto<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"