The Philadelphia Inquirer
The country’s first supervised-injection site will open next week in South Philadelphia, the site’s operators said Tuesday within hours of a federal judge’s entering a final ruling that the proposed facility would not violate federal law.
The organizers behind Safehouse, the nonprofit formed to open the site, were expected to announce details of their plan at a news conference Wednesday.
They would not comment on the exact location of the site Tuesday evening, but sources familiar with the decision confirmed that the site would operate out of Constitution Health Plaza, 1930 S. Broad St., just steps from Passyunk Avenue. The site would have a separate entrance for its clients.
The organization plans to open a second site elsewhere in the city shortly after the South Philadelphia opening. The city has also issued a public-safety plan for the area outside a site, and Safehouse has been training volunteer escorts, like those that abortion providers have used for years to protect women.
The opening is the culmination of a two-year battle to open a place where people in addiction can use drugs under medical supervision, be revived if they overdose, and access treatment.
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