This week, harm reduction advocates in Rhode Island revealed that they had secured a site for the first state-regulated overdose center in the country. The facility will allow people to use illegal drugs under the supervision and guidance of professionals in a safe environment. The plan was approved by the Providence City Council on Thursday night.
The group Project Weber/RENEW announced the finalization of the plan on Wednesday. They are working with VICTA, a clinical partner to open a site next to the Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. The facility is expected to be open this summer, and services will be available on weekdays.
Colleen Ndoye is the executive director of Project Weber/RENEW. This peer-led harm prevention and recovery support organisation said in a recent press release that “it’s imperative to take decisive actions to save lives.”
Daley Ndoye stated that “In 2022 Rhode Island will lose 434 lives due to the epidemic of overdoses.” This overdose prevention centre is an important part of the state’s efforts to combat this epidemic.
Both organizations state that they are “committed” to “working closely with local, state and community leaders prior and during the Center’s operation,” and note that the Providence City Council has “provided public support for the project.”
The council approved the plans for the facility in what appeared to be an unanimous voice vote on video, with several members speaking out in support of the facility’s role in the local community.
Mary Kay Harris, Deputy Majority leader (D), said: “This will be located in the ward I represent.” “I am very proud of a new agency that will make a difference in the lives and neighborhoods of those who have suffered.”
John Gonclaves, senior Deputy Majority leader (D), said: “Provision is leading the charge.” State leaders are also at the forefront of harm reduction.
Gonclaves stated that “when we think of overdose prevention, we think of substance use disorders, and we think the challenges associated with them, especially here in Providence, it is a real game changer.”
The Majority Whip Miguel A. Sanchez, (D), said that the approach was based on a “data-driven policy” which is “working in other countries and in New York City,” and added: “It saves lives.”
Justin M. Roias, a City Councilman (D), said it simply: “Drug use makes people uncomfortable. If that’s true, we need to find a solution. This alternative is to designate sites for safe use.
The Center will be opened in 2021 under legislation passed by Rhode Island legislators. This law was signed by Governor. Dan Mckee, a Democrat, authorized a program pilot for the sites. The current expiration date is March 2026. Project Weber/RENEW stated that this window would provide “the time necessary for the facility to open, operationalize, and evaluate.” The funding comes from a state settlement of an opioid lawsuit.
According to Project Weber/RENEW staff at the site will include “experts with lived experience in substance use and recovery including peer recovery specialists and counselors who can begin medication for substance abuse disorder(s).
Ashley Perry, Deputy Director of Project Weber/RENEW and Dennis Baller, Director of the Overdose Prevention Program at the Center are two people who have lived through this.
The organization has already established a number of drop-in services in Providence and Pawtucket. These include access to naloxone, and other safer use products, basic needs such as food, water, and hygiene items, HIV and Hepatitis C tests, and connections with a variety of other services, such as housing support and recovery coaching.
The group stated that the new space would offer showers and laundry services in addition to the supervised consumption.
The release states that VICTA–an outpatient program focused on mental health disorders and substance abuse disorder–will staff its center with “medical professionals, nurses, counselors, and on-site to provide immediate service when an individual is ready to receive treatment.” The overdose prevention center offers ‘treatment-on-demand’ so that people can take action at the moment they are ready to change.
Lisa Peterson is VICTA’s Chief Operating Officer. She said: “We understand that motivation can be fleeting and that recovery does not follow a linear path.” We are committed to helping individuals stay healthy at every stage of their process.
The state Department of Health is responsible for the oversight and regulation of the center, and the People, Place and Health Collective, a group of researchers at Brown University School of Public Health, will measure individual and community outcomes.
According to Project Weber/RENEW, people who visit overdose-prevention centers are 30% more likely than others to seek substance abuse treatment. In addition, data shows that there has never been a death at an overdose-prevention center in the world’s history.
The group cited data from two overdose-prevention centers that operate under municipal authorization in New York City. They noted that these sites “successfully reverted more than 1,300 intoxications in their two years operation, and only a few required emergency medical services.”
In a section that was largely ignored in a report about the growing drug overdose crisis, the American Medical Association urged local and state governments to allow overdose prevention sites to be operated as a strategy for public health.
The AMA said that at this stage of the epidemic in the United States, it urges communities and states to use all evidence-based methods to prevent overdose deaths and connect people to treatment and health care. The data show that OSPs reduce risky drug-use behaviors, overdoses and deaths while improving public health and access to healthcare.
The Biden administration continues to fight against opening the sites. For example, the Justice Department has blocked a proposed Philadelphia overdose-prevention site even though some of the two sites in New York City have already started operating with the approval of local officials. Some jurisdictions have been discouraged from opening similar centers because of the opposition.
In its report, AMA stated that studies have shown the centers “saved lives”. It found that 3 out of 4 people who visited the centers chose to do so over taking drugs in a semi-public or public location.
“Whether in Canada or Europe, or at sites in New York City there has been thousands of overdose reversals, but no fatalities have been reported,” AMA stated.
A separate AMA study published in November found that New York centres have not increased crime despite a significant reduction in arrests. The study found that while opponents had claimed that the establishment of harm reduction centers will drive crime, “initial data for NYC does not support these fears.”
Another 2022 JAMA report found that over a period of two months, in the first year after implementation, the trained staff of New York City’s overdose prevention center intervened 125 times to mitigate the overdose risk by administering naloxone, oxygen, and other services in order to prevent the death of a person.
In August, however, a federal prosecutor with jurisdiction in Manhattan told The New York Times that the sites were illegal and that “he was prepared to use all of his options – including enforcement – if this situation did not change quickly.”
The Supreme Court refused to hear a case in 2021 on the legality for establishing these facilities. The Justice Department announced the following year that it was evaluating potential “guardrails” for safe consumption sites.
Researchers in Congress highlighted “uncertainty”, of the federal government position regarding safe drug consumption sites. They also pointed out that legislators could resolve the issue temporarily by passing an amendment similar to the one which allowed medical marijuana laws be implemented without Justice Department intervention.
Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has implicitly endorsed the idea to authorize safe consumption sites . She argues that the evidence has shown that these facilities are effective in preventing overdose deaths.
Volkow refused to specify what she thinks should be done with the lawsuit. However, she did say that research on safe consumption sites “has shown that they have saved a significant (percentage) of patients from overdosing.”
Rahul Gupta is the White House Drug Czar. He has stated that the Biden administration is examining broader drug policy harm-reduction proposals . This includes the authorization of supervised use sites.
In December 2021, the National Institutes of Health issued two requests for applications to examine how harm reduction policies and safe consumption sites could be used to address the drug epidemic.
Gupta is the director of White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He has stated that it is important to explore “any option” in order to reduce the number of overdose deaths. This may include allowing the use of illegal substances at safe consumption sites if there are sufficient evidence to support their effectiveness.
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