Providence approves first state-sanctioned safe injection site in Rhode Island
A Rhode Island city has approved the state’s first safe injection site, a place where people can use heroin and other illegal drugs and be revived if they overdose.
The Providence City Council voted Thursday to establish the site, which will be operated by a nonprofit and funded with money from opioid settlement money. It is expected to open later this year and will be managed by harm reduction organization Project Weber/RENEW and VICTA. Services offered include food and showers, access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone, case management and housing support, as well as HIV testing.
“I am grateful to Weber/RENEW for the vision, advocacy and hard work they put into making Rhode Island’s first harm reduction center a reality,” Council President Rachel Miller said in a statement.
Miller, who said she toured the facility a few weeks ago, added that she was confident the center will “save lives and prioritize the well-being of city residents” as it connects people with ‘health care, counseling and outpatient services’.
Advocates argue that safe injection sites, also called overdose prevention centers or harm reduction centers, can save lives and connect people to addiction, mental health and medical care. Opponents fear the sites encourage drug use. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of drug overdose deaths nationally was estimated at 112,127 for the 12 months ending in August 2023. That’s slightly higher than the 109,680 for the year 2022.
“The unanimous vote by the Providence City Council is a historic moment for public health in the United States,” said Brandon Marshall, professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health, who leads a research project on sites for prevention of overdoses. “The council clearly recognizes that our current efforts to stop overdose deaths are not sufficient and that new approaches to harm reduction are urgently needed.”
The Providence location is the first site approved by the state and joins two other safe injection sites currently open in New York. Democratic Gov. Daniel McKee signed the measure into law in 2021, allowing the centers to open with local approval.
States such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico have considered allowing this. Last month, the Vermont House passed a bill that would allow the creation of overdose prevention centers in the state with safe injection sites.