Bid to open safe injection sites in San Francisco, Oakland heads to Gov. Newsom’s desk

SACRAMENTO – A invoice from a Bay Space lawmaker that will permit Oakland and San Francisco, together with Los Angeles, to open secure injection websites for opioid customers has cleared the legislature and is heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

Senate Invoice 57 by State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) handed its last legislative vote within the State Senate on Monday, by a margin of 21-11. The invoice beforehand handed the Meeting in late June on a 42-29 vote.

Below SB57, the three cities could be allowed to arrange the websites, the place opioid customers can legally inject medicine in supervised settings. Educated workers could be available to assist stop unintended overdoses.

In a written assertion, Wiener mentioned the websites are wanted as California and the nation are dealing with what he described as a “dramatic and preventable” improve in deadly overdoses. In San Francisco, 711 individuals died from overdoses in 2020, adopted by one other 640 deaths in 2021.

“Secure consumption websites are a confirmed mannequin to assist individuals keep away from overdose deaths, cut back HIV and hepatitis transmission, cut back syringe litter, and assist individuals entry remedy,” Wiener mentioned. “This laws is not about whether or not we wish individuals to make use of medicine. Moderately, it is an acknowledgment that folks *are* utilizing medicine, and our selection is whether or not we need to make each effort to assist them survive and get wholesome.”

Injection websites have lately opened in New York, whereas Rhode Island has additionally legalized the websites.

The legislature has beforehand permitted laws permitting secure injection websites in 2018, however was vetoed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.

If permitted, the pilot program would run for 5 years, ending in 2028.