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Rhode Island
The US’s First State-Sanctioned Safe Drug Consumption Site Prepares To Open In Rhode Island
On Tuesday afternoon, organizers cut the ribbon on the first state-sanctioned safe consumption site for illegal drugs in the United States. The facility—located in Providence, Rhode Island—stems from a 2021 bill creating a pilot program for overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in the state.
Operated by the nonprofit Project Weber/RENEW in partnership with addiction care provider VICTA, the new facility is expected to begin offering supervised drug consumption services as soon as it receives final licensing approval.
Once that happens, researchers at Brown University will be following the developments.
“The goal is to identify how OPCs operate in the United States,” Brown epidemiology professor Brandon D.L. Marshall said in a university post about the project. “If they are working, what makes them particularly helpful for people? In what ways do they connect people to addiction treatment and care? How can they best be integrated into a community that’s been hard hit by the nation’s overdose crisis? Those are some of the things we’d like to tease out.”
While controversial, overdose prevention centers have been lauded by academics and harm reduction advocates as a promising way to reduce drug-related deaths and connect people with social services, including treatment for drug use disorders.
The advocacy group Doctors for Drug Policy Reform (D4DPR), for example, recently published a paper arguing that OPCs “represent a wise, cost-effective, and necessary use” of funds received through settlements of lawsuits against opioid companies.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley (D) attended Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting at the OPC in his city to show his support.
“People with substance abuse disorder are going to use,” he said. “What’s different here is that they will use in a supervised fashion with medical professionals on staff so that they do not die, and then there will be services wrapped around.”
Marshall, the Brown researcher, said in an interview with the Public’s Radio that he led a 2011 study that “demonstrated a 35 percent reduction in overdose mortality after the Overdose Prevention Center opened in Vancouver, Canada.”
He also pointed to a study out of France that he said “found a more than 50 percent reduction in overdoses among people who used overdose prevention centers in that country compared to people who used other harm-reduction programs.”
“I would argue that the evidence in other countries is very promising and compelling,” he said in that interview.
OPCs are already operating in some countries and in New York City, where supporters say they’ve prevented numerous overdose deaths. The New York centers operate with city approval but are not sanctioned by the state.
Meanwhile, Minnesota and Vermont also recently authorized OPCs at the state level.
The federal stance on OPCs remains murky. On one hand, the Biden administration has let sites in New York City move forward, along with plans for the soon-to-be opened Rhode Island facility. On the other, Biden’s Justice Department has continued to stand in the way of another would-be OPC that organizers are trying to open in Philadelphia. (The Supreme Court in 2021 rejected a request to that hear that case, which was first filed during the Trump administration.)
Congressional researchers have highlighted the “uncertainty” of the federal government’s position on the facilities, pointing out last November that lawmakers could temporarily resolve the issue by advancing an amendment modeled after the one that has allowed medical marijuana laws to be implemented without Justice Department interference.
Meanwhile, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow has tacitly endorsed the idea of authorizing safe consumption sites, arguing that evidence has effectively demonstrated that the facilities can prevent overdose deaths.
Rahul Gupta, the White House drug czar, said in June that the Biden administration is reviewing broader drug policy harm reduction proposals, including the authorization of supervised consumption sites, and he went so far as to suggest possible decriminalization.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) put out a pair of requests for applications in December 2021 to investigate how safe consumption sites and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.
The Brown University research into the Providence OPC is one of the projects being funded by NIH, the university said.
Lisa Peterson, the chief operating officer at VICTA, one of the groups operating the center in Providence, told STAT News that she expects the facility to save lives and improve quality of life for city residents in general.
“I don’t think anybody wants to continue to see people die, and this is the evidence-based intervention that can supplement the work we’re doing with Narcan distribution and other types of harm reduction,” she said, describing the space as “only one part of a much broader approach to harm reduction.”
“It has positive outcomes on the neighborhood in terms of cleanliness,” Peterson added, “in terms of your kid not walking to school and seeing somebody overdosed on the sidewalk.”
Marshall said in the Brown University post about the research that the team’s primary goal “is to determine how engaging with an OPC impacts the health and well-being of people who use drugs.”
“We will assess outcomes including changes in overdose risk, uptake of treatment for substance use disorder and engagement with other health and social services,” he explained. Researchers will also analyze “whether neighborhoods surrounding the OPC experience a greater change in overdose rates, measures of drug-related public disorder and economic conditions following the opening of the OPC, compared to neighborhoods without such a center.”
Initial conversations with neighbors, business owners and workers in proximity to the OPC “found that 75 percent of people we spoke with are supportive of the center being in their neighborhood,” Marshall said. “While these results still need to undergo peer review, they represent among the highest levels of public acceptability for OPCs ever observed in the United States.”
Operators at Project Weber/RENEW did not immediately respond to an email from Marijuana Moment asking about the timeline for the OPC’s final license approval.
Psychedelic Therapy Reduces Depression Symptoms In Frontline Healthcare Workers, American Medical Association-Published Study Shows
Photo courtesy of Jernej Furman.
Rhode Island
R.I. grandparents fighting for visits with 4-year-old granddaughter rest their case – The Boston Globe
Naso’s in-laws, Dr. Siavash Ghoreishi and Dr. Jila Khorsand, took him to Family Court in July 2024, three months after their daughter, Shahrzad “Sherry” Naso, died from metastasized breast cancer.
Naso had refused to let them see Laila, their only grandchild of their only daughter, saying he wasn’t comfortable with their behavior and was alarmed by their medical care of Sherry and Laila.
The retired physicians used a little-known state law that allows grandparents whose children have died or divorced to petition the Family Court for the right to visit with their grandchildren.
It’s led to a bitter trial that began in October and has continued off and on over the last six months, with testimony about medical negligence, abuse, and control.
Naso, a Middletown narcotics detective, accuses his in-laws of prescribing dozens of medications and providing poor medical care, which he believes contributed to Sherry’s death and sickened Laila. Ghoreishi and Khorsand deny any wrongdoing.
“We love that child with every fabric of our beings and have never harmed her in any way or shape,” Khorsand testified in October. “I love that child to death and would never do anything to harm her. … Why would she be deprived of this love?”
Naso has argued that the expense of the trial and the state law allowing grandparents to sue parents for visitation violates his constitutional parental rights.
But Gill said on Monday that the state law was “narrowly tailored” to respect the constitutional rights of parents, and he denied Naso’s motions to dismiss or stay the ongoing trial.
Now that Michael Ahn, the lawyer for Ghoreishi and Khorsand, has rested his case, Naso’s lawyer will argue that the grandparents haven’t met their burden under the law and the case should be dismissed.
Veronica Assalone told the judge that she will argue for the dismissal on Thursday.
If her motion is denied, and the Supreme Court justices reject the emergency motion, the trial proceedings will resume, with at least a dozen witnesses expected to testify on Naso’s behalf.
On Wednesday, the court heard more testimony from Cheryl Allspach, the former longtime office manager for Ghoreishi’s pediatric practice and a close friend of the family. She had testified glowingly on Tuesday about Ghoreishi and Khorsand’s relationship with Laila.
She also testified about Ghoreishi’s recordkeeping at his practice and his medical treatment of Scott, Sherry, and Laila Naso, and explained the process for billing and filing for insurance claims.
Assalone questioned her about Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s payment policy, since 2009, regarding self-treatment and treatment of immediate family members. The insurer’s policy follows the American Medical Association code of ethics, which warns physicians not to treat or prescribe medications for themselves and close family members, and does not cover those services.
Allspach read the two-page policy aloud for the court. “Why did you bill?” the judge asked when she concluded.
“I just did it as part of normal billing, and truly I didn’t realize that,” Allspach said. “If I realized, I would have said to [Ghoreishi], ‘you cannot treat your family members.’”
The judge quickly stopped more detailed questions about billing practices, chart-keeping, and whether Allspach was aware that it was a felony for physicians to prescribe narcotics to relatives.
“It’s a grandparent visitation case, not a medical malpractice case,” Gill snapped at Assalone. He added that she should take her claims about illegal prescriptions to the state police, “not here.”
Julie Emmer, the owner of Strengthening Family Foundations, testified that Naso had alleged “serious things” about his in-law’s medical care when she was handling the supervised visits between Laila and Ghoreishi and Khorsand.
Emmer testified that Naso told her “there were prescriptions in different names for his late wife” and that his in-laws were being investigated by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the state police.
“He thought they shouldn’t have visits,” Emmer said. “He thought they were responsible for what happened to his wife.”
Emmer began supervising visits in September 2024, after then-Family Court Judge Debra DiSegna temporarily ordered one-hour supervised visits every other week. The visits continued until late January 2025 and were suspended after Naso filed a complaint with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. The investigation was closed, but Naso has refused to resume visits.
Emmer supervised nine visits, all at public places, and performed a home inspection at the grandparents’ condo in Jamestown at Ahn’s request in December 2023. They wanted to visit with Laila at their home, but Naso refused, Emmer said, and he is the custodial parent.
Emmer testified that the grandparents abided by the court order not to give Laila any gifts or medication.
Khorsand played with the little girl, while Ghoreishi stayed in the background, filming them or taking pictures, Emmer said. (Some of the photos and videos have been entered as evidence in the trial.)
Emmer said she noticed over time that Laila was anxious at the start of the visits and said she didn’t want to go. During one visit, she said, Laila whispered to her over and over “they are bad people.” At another visit, Laila was late because she vomited on the way over, she said.
She told the court that Laila would eventually warm up to her grandparents.
Emmer said she saw Naso crying and shaking, but that he was careful to compose himself so Laila didn’t see him becoming emotional. She testified that she didn’t hear him make any derogatory comments about his in-laws in Laila’s presence.
She said that Laila was reluctant to leave her father during the visits, but he encouraged her to go. “He often made comments, ‘Go have fun with Miss Julie. You’ll be safe,’” she said.
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island shifts its primary to Wednesday, Sept. 9, easing a Labor Day poll setup crunch
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island’s primary elections will now be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9, moving it back from the typical Tuesday election day because it fell too close to Labor Day.
Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, signed off on the change earlier this week. The primary election had been scheduled for Sept. 8, which is the day after the holiday weekend.
State and local officials had requested the change after raising concerns about having enough time to set up polls for voters. However, under the legislation enacted, the filing deadlines will remain the same.
“We have to set up over 400 polling places around the state on the day before the election,” Nick Lima, the registrar and director of elections for the city of Cranston, told lawmakers at a hearing in January. “That’s very difficult to do on a holiday because many of our polls are schools, social halls and churches.”
It’s not unusual for states to change their election day. Lawmakers in neighboring Massachusetts changed the state’s 2026 primary election day from Sept. 15 to Sept. 1, arguing that doing so will help improve voter turnout.
Only four states hold their primary elections in September: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Delaware, which has the latest primary date in the U.S., taking place this year on Sept. 15.
Legislation seeking to move up Delaware’s primary election by several months has been introduced in the statehouse, but previous attempts to do so have stalled.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
CUMBERLAND, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island State Police are investigating a crash that happened on I-295 North in Cumberland Tuesday night.
The crash happened in the right lane near Exit 22 just before 9 p.m.
It’s unclear exactly what caused the crash or if anyone was injured.
12 News has reached out to Rhode Island State Police for more information but has not heard back.
Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts.
Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the free WPRI 12+ TV app.
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