Philadelphia Approves Opening Safe-Injection Sites

On January 23, 2018, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) announced that the city would encourage private-sector development of “safe injection sites” for opioid users. The use of one or more sites, to be called Comprehensive User Engagement Sites (CUES), was recommended by the city's Opioid Task Force as a way to reduce overdose deaths and to help link opioid users with treatment. The sites would not be operated by the city.

The city's Opioid Task Force, in its May 2017 report to the mayor, recommended that the . . .