Two bills in Harrisburg to regulate supervised injection sites

State Senator Anthony Hardy Williams’ bill would require at least 3 public hearings and city approval before any supervised injection site could open.

• Tom MacDonald/WHYY
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  WHYY reporter Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia area resident who has worked in the region since the mid-1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief covering government and politics for more than a decade for WWDB-FM.
  Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic and weather.
  Tom has also been heard nationally, doing reports for NPR, ABC News Radio, NBC Radio, and CBS Radio.
  He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post-9/11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.
  
  Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia area resident who has worked in the area since the mid 1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief covering government and politics for more than a decade for WWDB-FM.
  
  Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic and weather.
  
  Tom has also been heard nationally, doing reports for NPR ,ABC News Radio, NBC Radio, and CBS Radio.
  
  He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post 9-11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.

 Elana Gordon / WHYY

Inside Insite, North America’s first public supervised injection facility, located in Vancouver.

(Harrisburg) — The proposed location of a supervised injection site in South Philadelphia has been abandoned, partly due to the lack of a community hearing before the proposal was revealed to the public.

Now state lawmakers are pushing to mandate public hearings before any such facility could open.

State Senator Anthony Hardy Williams’ bill would require at least 3 public hearings and city approval before any supervised injection site could open.

“Imagine a daycare opening in your neighborhood without your neighborhood saying, ‘Can it affect parking? Is it safe for children? Will it interrupt commerce?’ A daycare requires more scrutiny than this place that is an experiment.”

Kimberly Paynter / WHYY

State senator Anthony Williams speaks at a press conference with other local officials about Senate Bill 933 which would prohibit supervised infection sites unless they are authorized by local governments.

State Senator Tina Tartaglione represents parts of Kensington, known as the ‘epicenter’ of the opioid crisis, and does not want a facility in her district where people could inject illegal drugs under medical supervision.

“If Mayor Kenney and Governor Rendell believe so strong about safe injection sites, put it next to their homes,” she said.

The group Safehouse, which is seeking to open the facility, says it still plans to operate in South Philly, but will engage the community in more meaningful dialogue.

Councilmember David Oh introduced a resolution condemning the lack of transparency and community participation in the rollout of a proposed injection site in South Philadelphia. He also urged the mayor and Safehouse to cease further developments until impacted residents, businesses, and institutions can be informed and heard.

More impactful legislation could be introduced this week, since several councilmembers — including President Darrell Clarke — attended the announcement, which was held in City Hall this morning.

WHYY is the leading public media station serving the Philadelphia region, including Delaware, South Jersey and Pennsylvania. This story originally appeared on WHYY.org.

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