College kids offended by Halloween costumes get their own “safe spaces,” and so do students who can’t stand the thought of having classmates who are Trump supporters.
Now, illegal drug users may be getting safe spaces, too.
In King County in Washington State, one person dies every day from a heroin overdose, according to county’s Board of Health. The plan is to end that grim string of fatalities by making it as easy as possible for people to take illegal drugs. The board voted 12-0 in favor of the sites, but the county and Seattle city officials are the ones who have to put pen to paper to actually make it happen.
In what would be the first of its kind in the U.S., the county wants to create two “safe injection sites.” Dubbed “Community Health Engagement Locations,” or CHEL, theses sites are designed to let drug users take the drugs under the supervision of medical professionals, with no judgment or limitation. A 2011 study labeled the Lancet study shows that these sites are effective.
But not everyone in the city is on board with this new plan. “These people are suffering, they need treatment, they don’t need enabling,” said one concerned citizen. Another added: “Quite frankly I’m tired of my tax dollars going to pay for such civil disobedience.” State Senator Sen. Mark Miloscia is also opposed to the plan and is proposing a bill that will ban these injection sites. “The best safety is to get people into treatment off drugs,” he said. “That’s where we need to put our resources, not promoting drug use,”
Supporters of the bill believe it will help addicts eventually recover. “At least it allowed me to stay alive long enough to have the option to stop if I wanted to, and I did have that time where I said, ‘yeah I’m done,'” said Eric Scitz, a former addict who had actually used the site located in Vancouver.
Vancouver already has safe sites up and operating. New York City is also considering injection sites, with $100,000 set aside for research into how effective the sites are.
