Rhode Island plans to be the first state to establish sites for users to safely inject drugs in the presence of healthcare workers—a move aimed at embracing harm reduction over criminalization
Rhode Island plans to create supervised spaces for users to inject illegal drugs, in a big test of the idea that reducing harm to drug users is more effective than criminalization.
Critics say there is no evidence the sites significantly reduce illegal drug use or dependency. Rhode Island State Rep. Arthur Corvese, a Democrat, said it doesn’t make sense to set rules for most people and then create a space for some to break them. “There’s almost like a moral oxymoron going on here,” he said.
“We’ve been historically a country that addresses a health condition with punishments,” said Suzanne Carlberg-Racich, associate professor of public health at DePaul University in Chicago. “We are forced to put ourselves in positions where the choices we have to make all degrade, deface and strip down our human dignity,” he said.
“Language is the first step. But true investment and support is actually what’s needed,” said Ellen Glover, campaign director for drug policy, harm reduction and criminal justice at People’s Action, a collective of some 40 organizations including some working to reduce overdose deaths.