Some American cities have spent months or years debating whether to open supervised injection facilities for drug users, and one big national voice finally weighed in this week. Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, argued in theNew York Times that supervised injection is dangerous and sites offering the service shouldn't operate in the United States.
Supervised injection facilities are clinics where people can bring in drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, and use them under the oversight of staff who are trained to treat overdoses. The clinics are intended to prevent overdose deaths. No such facilities currently operate legally in the U.S., but cities such as Philadelphia and Seattle have projects in the works. Because it's still unclear how law enforcement will approach supervised injection, Rosenstein's—and the Department of Justice's—views on the issue will be closely watched.
Many of Rosenstein's arguments in the Times about supervised injection facilities aren't supported by the science, however. Here are three claims Rosenstein makes that don't line up with what we know about opioid drugs and supervised drug-use sites.
[For more on this story by FRANCIE DIEP, go to https://psmag.com/social-justi...ised-injection-sites]
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