California Assemblywoman Proposes Supervised Heroin Use For Addicts

SACRAMENTO - A California Assemblywoman wants to open public health clinics throughout the state in which heroin addicts and other drug users could legally go to get their high under supervised care.

The bill, AB-2495 , sponsored by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, would create first-in-nation legal drug supervised injection sites (SIS). The bill faces a contentious battle.

On one side, proponents say opening local and state health department facilities to monitor and treat overdoses would save money and lives.

"First of all we save lives from people not overdosing,” Eggman told the Sacramento Bee. “We save tax dollars because people are not going in and out of jail, prisons and the emergency room to get treatment."

"Addiction is not a criminal offense, but it is a public health issue -- a medical issue," Eggman told the Bee.

Law enforcement officials that deal with criminals are strongly opposed.

According to lawyerherald.com, the California Police Chiefs Association, the California College and University Police Chiefs Association, and the California Narcotics Officers' Association all oppose the measure.

“This sends solely the improper message relating to drug use and is more likely to create civil legal responsibility points for collaborating governments and officers,” stated Asha Harris of the California State Sheriffs’ Association. “While felony legal responsibility could also be off the desk, it will solely be a matter of time earlier than a collaborating company is sued when a drug consumer overdoses and an harmless individual is killed by somebody driving away from the power.”

In addition, law enforcement points out the state bill would put their jurisdictional efforts at odds with federal laws. The bill's legislative analysis opposed to passage states:

“AB 2495 will put California law enforcement in the inappropriate position of enforcing a state law at odds with federal law. While the federal government has opined on the issue of state marijuana laws diverging from federal law, there has been no indication that the federal government will take a hands off approach surrounding SISs.”

The idea to supervise addicts is not necessarily a new one.

A facility opened 13 years ago in Vancouver, British Columbia, Insite has overseen more than 2 million injections and costs $2 million a year to run, Canadian Sen. Larry Campbell told the Bee.

According to the Insite website, a 2011 study found that fatal overdoses within 500 metres of Insite's downtown location decreased by 35% after the facility opened, compared to a decrease of 9% in the rest of Vancouver.

The bill's legislative analysis in favor of passage states:

“Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) have been utilized in Vancouver, Sydney and nearly 100 other locations around the world to reduce overdoes death and injury, decrease public health concerns like discarded syringes and public injection, reduce the transmission of infectious diseases, and provide entry to treatment for this most marginalized group.

"With 125 Americans dying every day, and California hospitals treating one overdose every 45 minutes, we must continue to look for innovative strategies for addressing this epidemic," writes Eggman.

-image of heroin in the Public Domain; images of Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman via Facebook