SACRAMENTO, Calif — The California Senate has approved a bill that would allow give opioid users a place to inject drugs in supervised settings in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles County.
The goal of the bill is to prevent accidental overdose deaths from opioid use. The so-called safe injection sites have emerged around the world in recent years. It's part of a movement to rethink treatment for people addicted to powerful opioids.
The federal government has sued to block the sites in the United States. But state Sen. Scott Wiener, author of the bill, said he hopes President Joe Biden's administration will allow states to launch their own pilot programs.
"Unlike the Trump administration, President Biden takes a science-based approach to addiction," Wiener said. "We hope the administration will allow states to pilot evidence-based strategies like safe consumption sites."
In 2018, a similar bill was introduced, focusing on safe injection sites in San Francisco, however, it was vetoed by then Gov. Jerry Brown.
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