Boston city council strikes down opposition to safe injection sites
Boston City Councilors were divided on Wednesday over the hotly debated safe injection sites. One councilor introduced a resolution in opposition to them, which failed by an 8-3 vote.
State lawmakers are debating proposals to allow cities and towns to establish these types of facilities , where health care workers would supervise people who use pre-obtained illicit drugs and prevent overdoses when necessary.
City Councilor Ed Flynn introduced the resolution opposing such facilities, and another councilor, John Fitzgerald, defended it by asking the council, "Would you champion this cause in your own district?"
Flynn addressed the Mass. and Cass public health crisis , saying that residents have endured years of public safety, public health and quality of life issues.
He said that councilors at a hearing on Sept. 4 at a Hampton Inn heard from nearly 200 residents who said that they've seen break-ins, trespassing into backyards to use as bathrooms and to leave needles, assaults and human trafficking.
"A little boy in my neighborhood — Mason — got pricked with a needle," Flynn said.
Councilor Erin Murphy argued that safe injection sites will deepen cycles of addiction and that "the answer is not to normalize or incentivize drug use."
At a recent hearing of lawmakers debating safe injection site bills, state Rep. Mindy Domb, D-3rd Hampshire, said Massachusetts recorded fewer than 2,000 fatal overdoses — bucking a yearslong trend, according to the State House News Service.
Domb argued that harm reduction measures already in place — such as naloxone distribution and distribution of sterile needles — have contributed to the state's decline in overdose-related deaths.
In Boston, proponents argued that safe injection sites could prevent overdoses and connect people with addictions to health care services.
Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata said that she consulted with public health experts who say the opioid crisis requires criminal justice reform, and a "holistic public health package that also requires a recovery campus."
She acknowledged that Black and Latinx residents are disproportionately affected by overdose deaths. "We know that this strains health care, drives costs and contributes to infectious disease spread, including HIV, which is very, very serious."
As for safe injection sites, Zapata said there is a "long way to go on this," but that they "potentially" prevent overdose deaths, reduce disease transmission, connect people to treatment, lower health care costs and do not increase crime.
She estimated Boston could save an estimated $4 million annually in associated health care costs.
A majority of people in Boston support harm reduction practices, she said. In 2023, a poll found that 70% of Massachusetts voters support passing state legislation to allow cities and towns to establish overdose prevention centers.
Flynn countered that he worked as a probation officer for eight years, and that getting people into detox and mental health counseling was a big part of his role.
"This is about helping people in need that are struggling and we can't as a city turn our back on them," Flynn said. "We need to support them. We need to get them in recovery, and at the same time, support our residents as well."
New York City opened two overdose prevention centers in 2021, and a new facility opened in Providence, Rhode Island, in January, according to State House News Service.
This past spring, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley of Massachusetts came out strongly against safe injection sites, saying they are "categorically illegal and do nothing to help people overcome their addictions. To the contrary, they facilitate destructive behavior that ruins lives, consumes families and devastates communities."
Other Massachusetts communities that have considered these types of facilities, sometimes referred to as overdose prevention centers, include Worcester, Somerville, Cambridge and Northampton, Boston.com reported.
Last year, lawmakers passed legislation that expanded access to overdose reversal drugs and limited legal liability for drug users and harm reduction workers who use drug-checking equipment, State House News Service reported. Although the state Senate passed a measure approving overdose prevention centers last year, the final House version of the bill excluded this measure before it reached Gov. Maura Healey's desk.
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