New York City Opens First Safe Consumption Sites For Illegal Drugs In The U.S.

New York City is officially the first jurisdiction in the U.S. to open safe consumption sites where people can use currently illicit drugs in a medically supervised environment and receive treatment resources.

It’s a harm reduction service that advocates have long argued could serve a critical role in reducing the overdose crisis. Other cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco have moved to allow safe consumption sites, but legal and political challenges have kept the facilities from opening.

The first two sites will begin operating on Tuesday, located at existing facilities that provide syringe exchange services, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) office announced.

For more than 29 years, we have dedicated our lives to ending #overdose deaths & the criminalization & stigma associated with substance use. Being the 1st OPC site in the US is an honor & incredible step forward in ending the #overdosecrisis#wearethemedicine#THISSITESAVESLIVESpic.twitter.com/3NuuDCSh9C

— NYHRE (@NYHarmReduction) November 30, 2021

“New York City has led the nation’s battle against COVID-19, and the fight to keep our community safe doesn’t stop there. After exhaustive study, we know the right path forward to protect the most vulnerable people in our city. And we will not hesitate to take it,” de Blasio said in a press release.

“Overdose Prevention Centers are a safe and effective way to address the opioid crisis,” he said. “I’m proud to show cities in this country that after decades of failure, a smarter approach is possible.”

According to an @nycHealthy study, these sites could save 130 lives a year from overdose. During 2020, over 2,000 people died of a drug overdose in New York City, the highest number since reporting began in 2000. https://t.co/ieZozFxyqz

— Commissioner Dave A. Chokshi, MD (@NYCHealthCommr) November 30, 2021

What remains to be seen is how the federal Justice Department will approach the novel centers. Under the Trump administration in 2019, DOJ sued to block a Philadelphia non-profit, Safehouse, from opening a safe injection site. In October, the Supreme Court rejected a request to hear a case on the legality of establishing the facilities.

The current secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Bacerra, recently signaled that the Biden administration would not move to block the establishment safe injection sites, stressing that “we are literally trying to give users a lifeline.”

But a department spokesperson later walked those remarks back, stating that “HHS does not have a position on supervised consumption sites” and the “issue is a matter of ongoing litigation.” In any case, it would be up to DOJ to decide whether to pursue operators of the facilities under the Controlled Substances Act.

Bacerra was among eight top state law enforcement officials who filed an amicus brief in support of the Safehouse’s safe injection site plan when he served as California’s attorney general.

Advocates have put the current situation in no uncertain terms. They say the harm reduction centers could mean the difference between life and death for countless Americans who consume currently illegal drugs.

In New York City specifically, the health department conducted a feasibility study that found the safe consumption sites could save as many as 130 lives per year.

“The national overdose epidemic is a five-alarm fire in public health, and we have to tackle this crisis concurrently with our COVID fight,” Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said. “Giving people a safe, supportive space will save lives and bring people in from the streets, improving life for everyone involved. Overdose prevention centers are a key part of broader harm reduction.”

The nonprofits New York Harm Reduction Educators and Washington Heights Corner Project will run the operations with plans to merge and expand under the name OnPoint NYC.

The national overdose epidemic is a five-alarm fire in public health, and we have to tackle this crisis concurrently with our #COVID19 fight. Giving people a safe, supportive space will save lives. Overdose prevention centers are a key part of broader harm reduction.

— Commissioner Dave A. Chokshi, MD (@NYCHealthCommr) November 30, 2021

The Biden administration has generally promoted the concept of harm reduction as part of its drug policy, but it hasn’t formally weighed in on safe consumption sites in particular.

Chokshi told The New York Times that he’s had “productive conversations” with state and federal officials and feels the New York City facilities will be permitted to operate based on “a shared sense of urgency” to curb the overdose crisis.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., meanwhile, said that “we have always been trying to strike the right balance between enforcement, rehabilitation and prevention.”

“I would rather have people who are going to shoot up do it in a safe and secure venue as opposed to a McDonald’s bathroom, an alleyway or a subway staircase,” he said.

The legal complication for these harm reduction sites is principally related to a so-called federal “crack house statute” that makes it a felony to use a location for the manufacturing, distribution or consumption of controlled substances.

“We applaud Mayor de Blasio for showing leadership in fighting deadly overdoses in New York City by moving to establish Overdose Prevention Center pilots amid the worst-ever year for overdose deaths in New York,” Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said.

“While other politicians have pointed to the lack of clarity in the Department of Justice’s position on overdose prevention centers as an excuse for inaction, the Mayor has clearly stated that saving lives is more important to New York City,” she said.

Yes. It’s real. We’re finally doing it! https://t.co/uHEADWHYE3

— CORNER Project (@cornerproject) November 30, 2021

Michael Botticelli, the former director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) under the Obama administration, told the Times that “many cities have been waiting for someone to go first, particularly to see what the federal Department of Justice reaction is going to be.”

“It’s hugely important, not just from a public health perspective but for other communities around the country that have been contemplating this to be able to point to New York City and say we are doing this in the United States,” Botticelli, who was in a position to provide guidance on these harm reduction issues while in office, said.

The current ONDCP head, Rahul Gupta, has faced criticism from advocates over his harm reduction record. As commissioner for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health, he oversaw the decertification of a syringe access program that was designed to mitigate the spread of diseases like HIV and offer resources to people with substance misuse disorders.

As the national conversation around drug policy and substance misuse continues to evolve, support for harm reduction centers has expanded outside of traditional advocacy circles.

A coalition of 80 current and former prosecutors and law enforcement officials—including one who is Biden’s pick for U.S. attorney of Massachusetts—also previously filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to take up Safehouse’s safe consumption case.

While New York City is the first to open the harm reduction centers, the governor of Rhode Island did sign a historic bill in July to establish a safe consumption site pilot program.

Massachusetts lawmakers advanced similar legislation last year, but it was not ultimately enacted.

A similar harm reduction bill in California, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D), was approved in the state Senate in April, but further action has been delayed until 2022.

Credit Unions Urge Congress To Pass Marijuana Banking Reform Through Defense Bill

United Nations Urges Global Ban On Marijuana Advertising In Novel Regulatory Recommendation

The United Nations (UN) drug division is urging a global ban on marijuana advertising—but some advocates see that as a sign the prohibitionist body is coming to terms with the fact that widespread legalization is inevitable.

In its 2021 World Drug Report, released on Thursday, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that perceptions of the risks of cannabis have decreased substantially among young people as more areas have loosened laws around the plant or legalized it in some form and as THC potency has increased.

But while industry stakeholders may not be inclined to embrace the body’s advice on an outright advertising prohibition, some advocates feel that UN making any kind of regulatory recommendation for marijuana in the first place is a positive development.

The UNODC World Drug Report 2021 is out! The #COVID19 pandemic effects ramp up drug risks, as youth underestimate cannabis dangers. Read more: https://t.co/jYphyl0wIz#ShareFactsOnDrugs#SaveLives#WDR2021pic.twitter.com/9f4oMShi2G

— UN Office on Drugs & Crime (@UNODC) June 24, 2021

In a sense, it reflects a shift away from the panel’s standard policy position that cannabis should simply be prohibited, with UNODC essentially recognizing the growing popularity of reforms and offering advice as more legal markets come online.

The report states that a “comprehensive ban on advertising, promoting and sponsoring cannabis would ensure that public health interests prevail over business interests.”

Via UNODC.

“Such a ban would need to apply across all jurisdictions,” it says, adding that more “investment is needed for research into the harm that the non-medical use of cannabis poses to health and to better define the range of health conditions for which cannabis products may be an effective treatment.”

UN does not have the authority to enforce such a ban; rather, it serves as a simple policy recommendation that member nations can choose to adopt or ignore.

The report says an advertising ban could be “similar to the provisions” that are in place for tobacco under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst for the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, told Marijuana Moment that this amounts to “a tacit acknowledgement that the game is up—they aren’t going to turn back the tide” on legalization.

“The fact they are weighing in at all on the regulation debate, and haven’t before, feels significant,” he said. “It feels like a distinctive shift and break with the past.”

Beyond making the advertising ban recommendation, UNODC also described various legal cannabis regulatory frameworks that have taken shape in states across the U.S., as well as in Uruguay and Canada.

Notably, the report says that nearly half of Canadians are now obtaining cannabis from legal retailers, which is “a significantly higher proportion than in 2019 when just under a quarter of past-year cannabis users reported legal storefronts as their usual source for obtaining cannabis.”

“The retail cannabis market in Canada is likely to continue to evolve as jurisdictions adapt their regulatory approaches, as supply chains develop and as cannabis product offerings are diversified,” the body said. “Overall, the implementation of laws permitting the non-medical use of cannabis in Canada is still in its nascent stages, and it may take several years of monitoring to clarify how the cannabis market has evolved and to identify its dynamics and the impact of legalization on public health and safety, among other outcome measures.”

The U.K.-based Rolles, who—unlike many U.S.-based legalization advocates—personally supports an outright ban on cannabis advertising, said that this “is as far as I’m aware the first time they’ve engaged with the regulation debate – i.e. advised on best practice—rather than simply describe or condemn.”

“I’ve had a long running issue with UNODC and [the World Health Organization] not providing best practice guidance for cannabis regulation the way they do for alcohol and tobacco, even though 300 million-plus people live in legal cannabis jurisdictions now,” he said. “It’s so much harder to retrofit sensible regulation into an entrenched corporate market, than to design it sensibly from the start.”

Separately, UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs approved a World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation last year to remove marijuana from the most restrictive global scheduling category.

House Committee Approves Marijuana Protections For Banking And D.C.

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

Pennsylvania Governor Says Marijuana Legalization Is A Priority In Budget Negotiations With Lawmakers

The governor of Pennsylvania says marijuana legalization is a priority as he begins annual budget negotiations with lawmakers—even though his formal spending request doesn’t seem to contain any legislative language to actually accomplish the cannabis policy change.

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has repeatedly called for legalization and pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform. He continued that advocacy on Wednesday, saying in his budget speech that there’s “a lot more in the budget, including a number of things that I know have bipartisan support.” He listed cannabis legalization as one of those items.

Watch the governor discuss marijuana legalization and his budget plan below: 

In a supplementary legislative plan for 2021, the governor said that “Pennsylvania has built a successful medical marijuana program through bipartisan work,” and now “it’s time to take the next step and legalize recreational marijuana in the commonwealth with an emphasis on helping businesses and restorative justice.”

On top of ending prohibition, Wolf said that reform legislation will “support historically disadvantaged small businesses through grant funding and provide them the assistance they need to build back from the economic crisis and strengthen our economy.”

“Additionally, a portion of the revenue will support restorative justice programs to help the individuals and communities that have been adversely harmed by the criminalization of marijuana,” he said. “Combined, these initiatives will serve as a step forward in reversing the decades of injustices, economic harm and trauma caused by marijuana criminalization, particularly on minority communities.”

My plan for 2021 also includes:

💵 Increasing the minimum wage 💼 Building a stronger workforce ⚖️ Reforming the criminal justice system 🏚 Investing in public infrastructure 📄 Reducing business taxes and closing the Delaware Loophole 🍃 Legalizing adult-use marijuana

— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) February 3, 2021

“As our neighbors move toward legalizing recreational marijuana, we cannot afford to be left behind,” Wolf said. “Legalizing recreational marijuana has strong bipartisan support among Pennsylvanians.”

That language is similar to what his office put forward in an agenda that was released last week.

But again, while the governor seems to be using the budget process as an opportunity to reiterate the need to enact legalization, it does not appear in the proposed spending legislation itself that he submitted to lawmakers. Marijuana Moment reached out to Wolf’s office for clarification, but a representative did not respond by the time of publication.

The budget does call for $14,592,000 in appropriations to support the state’s existing medical cannabis program, however.

“Beyond these budget initiatives, the next year must include policy reforms that focus on making our criminal justice system fair, efficient, and restorative,” the formal proposal states. “Similarly, the legalization of adult-use cannabis will begin to eliminate the harm that has been caused in our society by the criminalization of marijuana.”

The governor hasn’t shied away from the issue since he came out in favor of adult-use legalization in 2019. But while his apparent optimism about bipartisan support for the policy change is consistent with public polling, it isn’t necessarily reflective of the sentiment in the GOP-controlled legislature.

In September, Wolf took a dig at GOP lawmakers for failing to act on reform in the previous session. And in August, he suggested that the state itself could potentially control marijuana sales rather than just license private retailers as other legalized jurisdictions have done.

Today, @GovernorTomWolf outlined his 2021 priorities for the PA legislature. They include: 💸 A better minimum wage 🎒 More money for schools 🏦 Good government ethics reforms 🌱 Marijuana reform/legalization 😷 Billions in #COVID19 relief

Retweet if you support his bold plan!

— PA Democratic Party (@PADems) February 3, 2021

Shortly after the governor announced that he was embracing the policy change, a lawmaker filed a bill to legalize marijuana through a state-run model.

A majority of Senate Democrats sent Wolf a letter in July arguing that legislators should pursue the policy change in order to generate revenue to make up for losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, reform advocates also have a strong champion of legalization in Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D).

The top official, who is weighing a run for the U.S. Senate, previously led a listening tour across the state to solicit public input on legalization. He’s credited that effort with helping to move the governor toward embracing comprehensive reform.

While Republican lawmakers have resisted these calls, Fetterman has put his support centerstage, including by hanging marijuana-themed flags at his Capitol office.

In an interview with Marijuana Moment last week, he said the decor was removed this week at the behest of certain GOP members who passed a temporary budget restricting the types of flags that can be flown on government property—but he promptly put them back up.

“There’s one great way to get them down for good and we can end this,” the lieutenant governor said. And that’s by enacting legislative reform.

Fetterman previously told Marijuana Moment that pursuing legalization through the governor’s budget request was a possibility. He added that the administration is exploring the constitutionality of issuing “wholesale pardons for certain marijuana convictions and charges.”

He’s also said that farmers in his state can grow better marijuana than people in New Jersey—where voters approved a legalization referendum in November—and that’s one reason why Pennsylvania should expeditiously reform its cannabis laws.

In September, the lieutenant governor hosted a virtual forum where he got advice on how to effectively implement a cannabis system from his counterparts in Illinois and Michigan, which have enacted legalization.

Meanwhile, Wolf isn’t the only governor to push for legalization as part of their budget proposals.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) marijuana legalization plan was released last month as part of his budget request for 2021, drawing mixed reviews from advocates. This is the third year in a row that he’s proposed the reform in this manner.

Also last month, the governor of Minnesota implored the legislature to look into legalizing marijuana as a means to boost the economy and promote racial justice. That came during a briefing focused on his budget proposal for the 2022-23 biennium, though he didn’t include language to end cannabis prohibition in his formal spending request to lawmakers.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) stressed during his State of the State speech last month that his budget proposal contains provisions to keep marijuana tax revenue flowing to schools in the state.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) included a plan to legalize marijuana through a state-run model in a budget plan last year, but lawmakers did not enact it.

Over in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers (D) said late last year that he was thinking about adding cannabis legalization to his 2021 budget proposal as a means to boost tax revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic. While he attempted to get marijuana possession decriminalized and medical cannabis legalized through the budget in 2019, Republican leaders in the legislature nixed those measures from the final spending bill.

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