A bill legalizing safe consumption sites for drug users in California passed the state Senate, meaning it’s soon to arrive on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for final approval, Sen. Scott Wiener announced.
According to current state and federal law, it is a crime to knowingly and willfully allow people to take illegal drugs in a space. Senate Bill 57 would drop the state prohibition and launch pilot consumption sites in San Francisco, Oakland and the city of Los Angeles, in efforts to combat the worsening drug overdose crisis in the state.
In San Francisco alone, the city saw 711 fatal overdoses in 2020, and 640 in 2021. City health officials expect to see similar or higher numbers of overdoses in 2022.
“Our local communities are in crisis with people dying of overdoses on our streets, and they are coming to us and asking us for permission to do this. They’re asking us for permission to save lives. It is our responsibility as a state to support our local communities and to let them try this out,” Wiener said.
Wiener said there will always be controversy about drugs, despite the progress made in addressing addiction as a health issue, rather than a criminal one. Yet there’s a “knee-jerk reaction” when it comes to safe consumption sites, he said. Opponents argue these sites would enable people to keep using drugs without seeking recovery, and fear this will only further promote illegal activity.
State Assemblymember Matt Haney, who previously represented San Francisco’s Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods on the Board of Supervisors, said the city’s status quo of drug use and homelessness is an “absolute travesty.”
There is nothing more radical or extreme than allowing people to die on the street without intervention, he said.
“Not only are we losing people who are dying, entire neighborhoods are suffering,” said Haney. “We have children and families who are walking down the street and there are people who are shooting up and abusing drugs all over the neighborhood.”
As proponents await the bill’s approval, Wiener said the pressure is on Newsom to act quickly and address the ever-growing issue of drug overdoses.
“A veto of SB 57 would send such a negative, toxic message to the rest of the country about where the rest of California is on drug use, addiction, overdoses and on the war on drugs,” Wiener said.
Weiner and Gavin come up with another bill to destroy California.
It seems like every bill this Weiner passes is purely based on degeneracy and immoral behavior…
I saw this on The Wire. It doesn’t end well.
Hamsterdam!! Get your spider bags and WMD!
How about we secure that southern border of ours? The majority of overdoses are from fentanyl. “Most fentanyl in the United States is smuggled across the southern border, U.S. officials say. Although fentanyl coming directly from China—previously the dominant source—has significantly decreased since 2019, experts note that many drug shipments from China are merely being rerouted through Mexico. “
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-opioid-epidemic
I thought it was illegal to do drugs. Why don’t they arrest the people who sell drugs instead of babysitting the druggies while they shoot up?
Wow.
Unbelievable the total crap this state puts thru to drug abusers and criminals.
I have up trying to figure out why these Bozos think like they do.
Welcome to Criminalfornia led by the top clowns in politics.
SF sues Walgreen’s for contributing to the opioid addiction and deaths on the streets, gets a settlement and then these hypocrites want to sanction the illegal use of opioids under the guise of preventing overdoses. It’s absolute insanity run amok. And these same idiots want to keep the bars open until 4am because promoting alcoholism and drunk drivers is another of their top priorities.
+1
I thought those people were all homeless because housing was too expensive/?
IN SF there is a “Safe injection site”, under the guise of “Self help”. It is at 1172 Market Street, and is called “The Linkage Center”. It is a tent city that has taken over UN Plaza, is fenced off and what happens in that place is completely hidden by covers and tarps. The non-profit that runs the place provides the tools to ingest drugs. A news story revealed that 20,000 + have entered, only a handful sought the treatment options offered. The OD’s still happen, just not on the sidewalk…
How will it combat drug over doses by having a place where people can get together and shoot up,and most won’t go there,it’s like offering a home to the homeless,they just won’t go.
San Fran was a zero,now it’s -5
It’s got be completely humiliating to be a liberal,but no more mean tweets…..for now.
Just wondering… If the drug of choice ( opiate) came with a little label saying “This substance might give you the ultimate euphoria, but certain death.) Would these same people go ahead and take it? If so, let them! Give them a choice to live clean or die.
Tsa said it well, the hypocrite liberals go after Walgreen’s but allow more opportunity to use hard drugs. Completely insane. These abusers know the risks!
All you anarchists and libertarians should be applauding this.
This is so wrong. What else can you say?
Might be a good time to go outside and have a cool Vantage cigarette.
Anything Wiener supports is a tragedy for CA.
I’d bet that he’ll replace Feinstein.
Will there be doctors, pharmacists, and social workers at these sites to make sure the addicts take just the right amount of drugs and/or combination of drugs that will not kill them? Will they be paid, or just volunteers? I already know our taxes will be paying for these “safe injection sites.” California is leading the nation down a rathole of despair…
My guess : One of the sites isn’t the French Laundry
Encourage the junkies to keep shoving needles in their arm. This is a very stupid idea.
Newsom and Wiener: A bad combination; an accident waiting to happen.
… happy your tax dollars are going to pay for this? …. if you voted against the recall and / or voted for him don’t complain to me…. this really ticks me off!
Where is the money being taken from for these sites? Education, transportation, infrastructure?
I’ll say one more thing on this:
They have doctors frightened about prescribing opioids for pain management after surgery. People with a legitimate need for pain control have trouble getting it. Yet people who use drugs for sport are facilitated.
Wiener is an idiot. The only war on drugs is against their legitimate use.
CA is about to become the biggest drug dealer. How many more junkies will come to this state for free drugs?
Maybe this is Gavins way of saving money. Cheaper to kill them off, then arresting them and opening up treatment centers.