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.”
Advertisement
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.”
Advertisement
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.
Advertisement
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.
Advertisement
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.”
Advertisement
“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.
Advertisement
Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon pledge.
The Mayo Clinic has some tips for safely shoveling snow.
It’s not even half-way through December, and Rhode Island has seen snow, a bomb cyclone, freezing temps and some warm days. Does it leave you wondering that the rest of the winter will be like?
The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which has been around since 1792, has put out their predictions for the 2024-2025 winter. They tout themselves as being 80% accurate.
Advertisement
This winter they’re calling for a “gentler” season than normal.
“This winter, temperatures will be up and snowfall down throughout most of the United States,” reports Carol Connare, the Almanac’s editor-in-chief. “While there will still be plenty of chilly temperatures and snow for most slopes, the high heating costs associated with the season shouldn’t hit so hard. We’re predicting a temperate, uneventful winter—potentially a welcome reprieve from the extremes of recent years.”
What will winter 2024-2025 be like in Rhode Island?
Rhode Island, which is part of the Atlantic corridor in The Old Farmer’s Almanac predictions, can expect to see a little less snow than normal and temperatures will be slightly above normal.
For temperatures, the almanac says they’ll be slightly above average overall, but February will be 2% colder than normal.
Advertisement
“The region will also experience shots of cold in mid-December, early and late January, and late February,” the prediction says.
More: What temperature should you set your thermostat to? Department of Energy has an answer
How much snow will Rhode Island have this winter?
When it comes to both snow and rain, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting that precipitation will be slightly below normal in Southern New England.
But, there will be some snow. They’re forecasting the most snow will fall in late December in late February.
Advertisement
How does the Old Farmer’s Almanac make predictions?
According to its website, The Old Farmer’s Almanac makes its predictions by comparing solar activity with weather patterns.
The almanac says it utilizes multiple academic disciplines for its predictions, including solar science, climatology and meteorology.
It also says the weather forecast methodology is the modern version of a formula created by the Almanac’s founder, Robert B. Thomas, in 1792.
How accurate are the Old Farmer’s Almanac’s predictions?
The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which is slightly different than the Farmers’ Almanac, claims an 80% accuracy rate on its predictions.
Seth Jacobson and Melina Khan contributed to this report.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Kino Lilly Jr. scored 23 points and made five free throws in the final 31 seconds of a second overtime to lead Brown to an 84-80 victory over Rhode Island.
The Bears (7-3) won for the sixth straight time and ended a nine-game win streak to begin the season for the Rams (9-1).
Advertisement
Lilly added 10 assists for the Bears. Aaron Cooley scored 19 points and blocked four shots. Landon Lewis totaled 15 points, five rebounds, four steals, and four blocks. The Bears picked up their sixth straight win.
The Rams were led by Sebastian Thomas with 22 points and three steals. Jamarques Lawrence added 17 points and David Green pitched in with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The loss ended a nine-game winning streak for the Rams.
Thomas hit a 3-pointer for Rhode Island with 2::25 left for the final points in regulation play, sending the game to OT tied at 65. Lilly hit a jumper with 2:02 left for the final points in the first extra period, forcing a second OT tied at 71.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Quinten Foster, the report’s author and the program’s director of transgender whole healthcare, told the Globe on Tuesday that the survey was intended to provide a “more data-driven understanding of what’s going on for our community.”
Get Rhode Island News Alerts
Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the surveying that we see go around, not only on [the] state level, but local and national levels, just simply don’t ask questions about LGBTQ identities,” Foster said. “So we don’t have a good pool of data on really anything to do with the LGBTQ community’s experience in general.”
Advertisement
Foster said through his research, they learned there had not been a survey quite like this one in Rhode Island since 2004.
Notably, the landscape of the LGBTQIA+ community has “vastly” changed over the past 20 years, and while the nation has expanded protections from discrimination, including in employment, housing, public accommodations, military service, and legalized same sex marriage, other challenges remain, such as bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in nearly half the states in the country, Foster said.
“It’s really hard to be able to write things like grant applications and do advocacy at the State House or even with local government when we don’t have hard and fast numbers to use for these things,” Foster said.
According to the report, the survey is intended as a starting point for future surveys, and includes information on “demographics, holistic health outcomes and experiences, discrimination, affirmation, priorities, and services.”
“Rhode Island is a relatively progressive state, and we see that reflected in the data,” Foster said. “That does not mean that we’re doing perfectly, though. There are still a significant number of community members that are struggling, and it’s going to be really important in the coming years to keep in mind the intense impact of the challenges that we have noted in the report, because even when it is a relatively small number of folks that are struggling with it, the impact on their lives is extreme.”
Advertisement
Specifically, Foster pointed to struggles with the increasing cost of living and the state’s housing crisis, and “just the basic experiences of being discriminated against in our daily lives having a significant impact on folks’ mental health and stress levels.”
According to the report, 147 participants responded to questions about discrimination.
Of those who reported being discriminated against because of their gender identity or expression, 32 percent said they experienced “invalidation by a stranger or professional.”
“This was followed by reports of ‘invalidation by a loved one’ (24.5 percent), ‘verbal abuse’ (23.8 percent), and ‘online or electronic harassment’ (21.1 percent). Neither physical assault nor assault with a weapon were reported,” the report said.
Advertisement
Similarly, for those who said they were discriminated againstbased on their sexual or romantic orientation “most of the discrimination reported was ‘invalidation by a stranger or professional’ (22.5 percent), ‘invalidation by a loved one’ (17 percent), and ‘verbal abuse’ (15 percent),” the report stated.
Respondents were also asked how stressed they are on average, with 32 percent reporting they are “somewhat stressed;” 25 percent reporting “quite a bit stressed;” 22 percent “very much” stressed; 17 percent “a little bit” stressed; and 5 percent “not at all” stressed.
“When participants’ stress levels are graphed based on gender identity, a pattern appears: those identities at the margins of power and privilege (gender diverse) show higher levels of stress on average versus those identities that are viewed as the default (cisgender),” the report states.
The survey also included health screenings for depression and anxiety.
Results showed, of the 198 people who participated in those sections, 43.9 percent scored as having “minimal depression,” followed by 27.8 percent with “mild depression,” and 15.2 percent with “moderate depression.” Moderately severe depression and severe depression each made up 6.6 percent of the total scores.
Advertisement
On the anxiety screenings, 45.5 percent scored for “minimal anxiety,” 27.8 scored for “mild anxiety,” 16.7 percent scored for “moderate anxiety,” and 10.1 scored for “severe anxiety.”
According to data cited in the report from the Rhode Island Foundation, 6.5 percent of Rhode Island residents identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Survey respondents largely reflected Rhode Island’s racial demographics based on US Census data, according to Foster, but he acknowledged there is an “under representation” of Black and Indigenous people and people of color in the state.
“We are definitely looking at reaching a wider pool in a few different ways in subsequent surveys,” Foster said.
Omar Mohammed of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Advertisement
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.
