The state commission that Secretary of Health and Human Services, Marylou Sudders, led ultimately found supervised drug consumption sites help prevent overdose deaths and stop the spread of disease, recommending a pilot program for one or more sites as long as they “receive local approval and include a rigorous evaluation of the outcomes for individuals and impact on the surrounding area and municipality.”
“There is the whole legal issue, OK. But parallel to that it’s all of the work you have to do to set up a pilot so that it is successful,” said Friedman, who said that would mean working with local stakeholders. “We still have to do that work. And we’re not going to shove this down anybody’s throat. No legislation’s going to say, ‘You have to open a safe consumption site.”