Demonstrators demand secure injection website in San Francisco — now

Lawyers planted 712 white flags in a meadow in Civic Center Plaza Tuesday night, each representing a death from an overdose in San Francisco last year. Side by side, demonstrators carried signs: “Any overdose is a political failure.” “How many have to die?” “The price of waiting.”

It was the recent public call from San Francisco for safer injection sites, also known as supervised consumption points. These are facilities where people who have previously received it can take medication while a trained staff member is present to stop any possible overdose; Provision of guidance and equipment, such as B. a clean needle; to provide syringe disposal; and help guide people to treatment and social services.

A crowd of around 70, including doctors, nonprofits and directors, nurses, city lawmakers, and community members, listened to speakers familiar with overdose deaths and insisted that these websites are needed now, especially given the number of deaths overdoses across the city surpassed that of Covid-19 last year.

“I’ve lost so many of my patients to overdose, so many of them. They were all loved, they all had families, they all had friends, and their deaths were preventable, ”said Dr. Leslie Suen, an internal medicine doctor at the University of California at San Francisco who works at the San Francisco General Hospital.

“There’s a sentence on the street that is based on the movie Gone in 60 Seconds – that’s what happens out there. From the time you stick the needle and if it’s not the right stuff, you’ll be gone in 60 seconds. I’ve seen it. Many, many times. Too much time. This is real, ”said Del Seymour, who was a drug addict for 18 years before founding the nonprofit Code Tenderloin.

Protesters urged San Francisco officials to build the sites in violation of federal and state laws that restrict them. The demonstration was organized by the Safer Inside Coalition, a group of nonprofits, community organizations, activists, and others including the nonprofit health organization HealthRIGHT 360, The Gubbio Project, the SF AIDS Foundation, GLIDE, and St. James Infirmary. It took place on Overdose Awareness Day on August 31st.

The mayor and board of directors unanimously passed laws for safe injection sites last year, but none were built due to legality issues at the federal and state levels.

A public health emergency

Last month, event co-organizer Gary McCoy, a former representative of Rep Nancy Pelosi, went on a hunger strike outside City Hall to urge city officials to tackle overdose deaths. He ended the strike 60 hours later after the board announced that it would pass a resolution calling for a state of emergency and the creation of safe injection sites.

Supervisor Matt Haney, whose office is drafting the resolution, told Mission Local that he will have a resolution that supports this on September 7th and will likely be passed on September 14th.

Haney said declaring a public health emergency would allow the city to take action, but noted the city could open a safe injection site even without the declaration.

“If the federal government or the state government does not agree with us, which I am not sure at this point in time, then we should defend ourselves vigorously; we’ve done it before, ”he told Mission Local.

Protesters called for a safe injection site in San Francisco on Tuesday evening. Photo by David Mamaril Horowitz

This, he and many others noted, would be very San Francisco, much like how former Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed same-sex marriages before the law in 2004 or how former Mayor Frank Jordan started a syringe access program in 1993 during the AIDS epidemic.

Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Rafael Mandelman, who attended the demonstration, also confirmed their support for the resolution. McCoy, a former city legislative adviser to three city overseers, told Mission Local that every overseer except Catherine Stefani, who he said had not yet contacted him, had told him they supported the resolution.

With 10 or 11 votes, it would then go to Mayor London Breed.

Bypass the Controlled Substance Law

The demonstration follows Senator Scott Wiener’s postponement of Senate Bill 57 in July, which would have legalized a pilot program that would have enabled safer injection sites in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. Now the bill could not be passed before January 2022 at the earliest, which means that it would not come into force until a full year later.

In the meantime, according to a 2008 study of the law and policies of Safe Injection Facilities, state and federal laws nationwide, including the Controlled Substances Act, could potentially be used to shut down sites.

This law codifies a provision known as the “crack house statute” that makes it a crime to knowingly open, lease, a place for the manufacture, distribution or use of controlled substances, to rent, use or maintain.

Therefore, the site should be owned by the city, says Lydia Bransten, managing director of the Gubbio project, the mission refuge for residents who are not housed. Otherwise, nonprofits providing services would have to put their own property at risk if the federal government tries to seize it.

Safe consumption locations could save CHF 3.5 million annually

Studies have shown that safe outlets are effective in preventing overdose deaths and bringing people to treatment for drug use.

A 2007 study at one of these locations in Vancouver, British Columbia found that its opening was associated with a 30 percent increase in detox use, behavior continued with a higher rate of long-term addiction treatment commencement, and reduced injection rates the agency.

Another study in Vancouver that ran over four years and ended in 2008 found that eight to 51 overdose deaths could have occurred if they occurred outside the facility.

A die-in was held at the demonstration on Tuesday evening. Photo by David Mamaril Horowitz.

In August 2017, around 98 locations in 66 cities in Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, Spain, Luxembourg, Germany and France were in operation. No overdose deaths have been reported at these locations.

A 2016 study that analyzed the cost benefits of placing one of these locations in San Francisco found that the city was pro-poor due to avoiding HIV and hepatitis C infections, avoiding deaths from overdosing, and reducing skin consumption Would save a total of $ 3.5 million a year for a site with 13 booths and soft tissue infections and more people taking drug-assisted treatment.

Bransten, the executive director of the Gubbio project, said the sites should offer wound care, advice and detox treatment upon request.

Angelica Mirsoian, a nurse at the Tom Waddell Urgent Care Clinic near town hall, said they had reversed many overdoses at the center and that it was especially important to include case management, full-service and other care services.

“It’s not just substance use. There are many other things that come with drug use like wounds and other physical problems, ”she said.

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David is one of those San Francisco locals who gets upset every time they talk about City College. He has a degree in journalism there and from San Francisco State University, which he graduated from the latter in … More from David Mamaril Horowitz