Vermont Lawmakers Send Bill To Legalize And Fund Safe Drug Consumption Site To Governor’s Desk

Lawmakers in Vermont have passed legislation to legalize and fund a Burlington facility where people could use currently prohibited substances in a medically supervised environment—part of a pilot program aimed at quelling the state’s ongoing epidemic of drug-related deaths. The measure now heads to the desk of Gov. Phil Scott (R), who vetoed an earlier 2022 measure that would have created a task force to study such sites.

The House of Representatives signed off on Senate-made changes to the bill, H.72, in a voice vote on Tuesday. The Senate approved the measure after making the changes last week.

House lawmakers approved a previous version of the bill in January, as Rep. Theresa Wood (D) reminded colleagues ahead of Tuesday’s floor vote.

“Members may have forgotten about this bill,” she joked. “It was one of the very first ones we passed back in January.”

If enacted, the legislation would create an overdose prevention centers (OPC) Burlington, with $1.1 million set aside in funding plus another $300,000 to study the study the impact of the pilot project. The OPC would need to have on-site professionals with training in CPR, overdose interventions, first aid and wound care, as well as medical assessments to determine the need for further emergency care.

“The Vermont Department of Health has a public health campaign that tells all people with substance use disorder to never use alone, because doing so can be extremely dangerous,” Wood told House colleagues. “Between 2012 and 2023, there were over 1,500 Vermonters that died. The vast majority of them did not have a bystander. This is a shocking loss of lives—lives that were our friends, our family members, our community members and so many Vermonters, all of whom deserved a chance to live and heal.”

Beyond establishing a site where people could use drugs in a medically supervised setting, the bill also now includes a Senate-added requirement that the facility provide drug-checking services, and it includes language on criminal immunity for OPC staff, property holders and others to ensure they aren’t subject to arrest or prosecution as the result of good-faith overdose prevention efforts.

If it becomes law, Vermont would join Rhode Island and Minnesota in authorizing the facilities.

Sponsored by Rep. Taylor Small (P/D) and 28 House colleagues, the bill is another attempt by lawmakers to allow overdose prevention centers following Scott’s veto of a 2022 measure that would have established a task force to create a plan to open the sites.

Earlier this year, the governor said he’s still skeptical of this session’s proposal. “I just don’t think that a government entity should be in the business of enabling those who are addicted to these drugs that are illegal,” he said in January, as the measure passed out of the House in its earlier form.

Scott wrote in his 2022 veto message on the earlier legislation that “it seems counterintuitive to divert resources from proven harm reduction strategies to plan injection sites without clear data on the effectiveness of this approach.”

Some who opposed the bill during Tuesday’s House session said they felt it was premature, as the sites are not federally approved.

“If this site does get established in Burlington, you can be assured that I may be the first one going on up there saying, ‘How can I help?'” said Rep. Eric McGuire, a program manager at a family services center in Rutland who provides volunteer ministerial services at the Vermont Department of Corrections. “But this is not a proven practice at this time in our country.”

“I believe in cutting edge approaches to harm reduction as a practitioner in our field,” McGuire said, but he added that “we have an obligation and a duty as practitioners to follow the models as outlined, whether it’s the ethical standards and the moral standards,” arguing that OPCs have not been recognized by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) or the National Institutes of Health.

“My fear is this is going to result in unintended consequences that could damage anything moving any further,” he said.

Rep. Casey Toof (R) said he agreed with McGuire’s criticism but also opposed using money from the state’s opioid settlement fund to pay for a single site in Burlington.

“I’m just looking at the $1.1 million that we’re going to allocate to one municipality that the rest of the state’s gonna have to pick up and pay for,” he said. “I don’t see my constituents using the services that are provided in these injection booths.”

“This is a pilot project,” responded Wood. “I want to point out that this is a pilot project, very much for us to learn from this experience. And the city of Burlington is equipped—and has requested, frankly, the ability to be a pilot project for this.”

She said the experiment could “assist in saving lives in the city of Burlington and assist our state in understanding better what this could mean for harm reduction.”

Today's press conference was powerful with so many voices in support of #OPCs.

And, today bill H.72 officially passed the #VT legislature! #vtpoli

It's time for OPCs in VT. Tell Gov. Scott to sign the bill: https://t.co/SV2H3t40wKpic.twitter.com/vbBszgcuvQ

— Decriminalize Vermont (@DecrimVermont) May 7, 2024

As passed by the House earlier this year, the legislation would have instead created two overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in undeclared parts of the state, with $2 million set aside in funding for the facilities. A broad amendment adopted in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee last month, however, narrowed the pilot program to a single site in the city of Burlington, where officials have expressed interest in hosting a facility.

In addition to endorsements from the current and former mayors of Burlington itself, the proposal has support from advocacy groups including the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, National Harm Reduction Coalition, the American Diabetes Association, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Johnson Health Center, Broken No More, Recovery Vermont and the Vermont Association for Mental Health Addiction and Recovery.

Separately on Tuesday, a Vermont’s Senate committee endorsed a small change to a measure that would establish a working group to study whether and how to allow therapeutic access to psychedelics, a proposal that next heads to the chamber floor. If that bill becomes law, a report from the working group would be due to the legislature in November with recommendations on how to regulate the substances.

The change approved in committee would direct the Vermont Psychological Association to collaborate with the state Department of Health to help staff and provide technical assistance to body.

As originally introduced, that bill, S.114, would have also legalized use and possession of psilocybin, but lawmakers on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee nixed that section to focus instead on the working group.

Though Rhode Island and Minnesota have state laws on the books allowing safe drug consumption sites, New York City became the first U.S. jurisdiction to open locally sanctioned harm reduction centers in November 2021, and officials have reported positive results saving lives.

An early study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that the facilities had decreased the risk of overdose, steered people away from using drugs in public and provided other ancillary health services to people who use illicit substances. And separate research published by AMA late last year found that the centers have not led to increased crime despite a significant decrease in arrests.

Meanwhile the federal government has fought an effort to open an overdose prevention center in Philadelphia, with the Biden administration arguing that the facilities violate federal law. Last month, the court in that case granted the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss a challenge from organizers.

The Supreme Court rejected a request to that hear that case in October 2021.

DOJ first blocked the Philadelphia nonprofit from opening the overdose prevention center under the Trump administration. Supporters hoped the department would cede the issue under President Joe Biden, who has promoted harm reduction policies as an alternative to criminalization, but the parties could not reach an agreement to allow the facility to open despite months of “good faith” negotiations.

Congressional researchers have highlighted the “uncertainty” of the federal government’s position on such facilities, pointing out last November that lawmakers could temporarily resolve the issue by advancing an amendment modeled after the one that has allowed medical marijuana laws to be implemented without Justice Department interference.

Meanwhile, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow has tacitly endorsed the idea of authorizing safe consumption sites, arguing that evidence has effectively demonstrated that the facilities can prevent overdose deaths.

Volkow declined to say specifically what she believes should happen with the ongoing lawsuit, but she said safe consumption sites that have been the subject of research “have shown that it has saved a significant [percentage of] patients from overdosing.”

Rahul Gupta, the White House drug czar, has said the Biden administration is reviewing broader drug policy harm reduction proposals, including the authorization of supervised consumption sites, and he went so far as to suggest possible decriminalization.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) put out a pair of requests for applications in December 2021 to investigate how safe consumption sites and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.

Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), has said it’s critical to explore “any and every option” to reduce overdose deaths, which could include allowing safe consumption sites for illegal substances if the evidence supports their efficacy.

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New York Lawmakers Approve Bill To Authorize Safe Drug Consumption Sites In Committee

A New York Assembly committee on Tuesday advanced a bill to establish a statewide safe consumption site program, allowing regulators to authorize facilities where people could use currently illicit drugs in a medically supervised environment.

The legislation from Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D) was reported out of the Assembly Health Committee, with a few Democrats joining the Republican minority in voting against it. The bill now heads to the Codes Committee before potentially moving to the floor for consideration.

Under the proposal, the New York Health Department and local agencies would have the ability to authorize safe consumption sites and regulate the facilities.

BREAKING: My legislation, A.224, to authorize overdose prevention centers in New York State just passed the Health Committee.

Countries around the world have used #OPCs for decades to help #EndOverdose. Allowing OPCs to operate in NYS will save lives. pic.twitter.com/aCqwOIOCjP

— Linda B. Rosenthal “the #OriginalRosenthal” (@LindaBRosenthal) May 10, 2022

The intent of the legislation is to prevent overdose deaths by having medical professionals on site at places where they can use pre-obtained controlled substances without facing the threat of arrest or incarceration. People would also be given treatment resources.

Further, the bill would require facilities to provide syringe exchange services where people could obtain sterile hypodermic needles and also safely deposit used syringes.

—Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.—

Education would also be a key component of the law, with a mandate that licensed safe consumption sites provide, “at a minimum,” information about the risks of contracting diseases such as HIV and viral hepatitis when sharing needles.

“This bill will reduce overdose deaths associated with opioid use and the dangers to the public caused by public IV drug use,” the measure’s justification section says, citing the experiences of other countries that currently permit overdose prevention facilities.

The centers would also need to provide education and access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone.

“Substance abuse is a disease and we need to have an open mind [about] how we address those who are addicted and how we can help them from dying,” one member of the Assembly committee said at the hearing on Tuesday.

New York City became the first city in the U.S. to allow government-sanctioned overdose prevention sites to operate in their jurisdiction—and supporters have touted the early results showing that the facilities are already saving lives.

From upstate to downstate, legislators recognize that saving lives is not divisive, but a moral obligation.

‘With only 10 session days left on the calendar, we need our leaders to step into their power, and find the political will to pass the #SCSA.’ -James Hill, User Union. pic.twitter.com/g19ALwsl3B

— VOCAL-NY (@VOCALNewYork) May 10, 2022

“We applaud the members of the Assembly Health Committee for ensuring that this life saving bill is one step closer to passing their house. Now, we need our electeds in the Senate to do the same,” VOCAL-NY’s James Hill said in a press release.

“While Overdose Prevention Centers may not be necessary in all New York State districts, they are desperately needed in communities like mine in Buffalo,” he said. “With only 10 session days left on the calendar, we need our leaders to step into their power, and find the political will to pass the Safer Consumption Services Act.”

Meanwhile, there’s ongoing litigation between the Justice Department and a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization that sought to launch safe consumption sites only to be challenged under the Trump administration.

A deadline for a response from the Biden administration was recently extended in a federal court, which advocates say is reflective of the “productive” conversations they’ve have around the harm reduction policy.

DOJ said in February that it is actively “evaluating supervised consumption sites, including discussions with state and local regulators about appropriate guardrails for such sites, as part of an overall approach to harm reduction and public safety.”

A poll released in April found that a majority of Americans (64 percent) support allowing safe consumption sites.

While the Biden administration has yet to take a specific position on policy proposals to authorize safe consumption facilities, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) put out a pair of requests for applications (RFAs) in December for an effort that will provide funding for efforts to investigate how that and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow has repeatedly expressed concerns about the harms caused by the criminalization of drug possession, and she told Marijuana Moment in an interview last year that she is open to continuing to explore “how these support systems as a community can help people, for example, engage in treatment, how they can prevent them from getting infected from HIV and how they can prevent them from overdosing and dying.”

Activists in several cities have attempted to establish harm reduction centers in recent years, citing promising results from programs that have been put into place in other countries like Canada and Australia.

In October, the Supreme Court rejected a request to hear a case on the legality of establishing the Safehouse facilities, but the case is still before a lower federal court.

The White House drug czar, Rahul Gupta, recently said that it’s critical to explore “any and every option” to reduce overdose deaths, and that could include allowing safe consumption sites for illegal substances if the evidence supports their efficacy.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) director previously said that he couldn’t talk about the harm reduction centers due to the ongoing litigation related to Safehouse, but he seemed more open to the possibility in an interview with CNN late last year.

The secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Bacerra, also 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.

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—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 this year.

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Photo courtesy of Jernej Furman.