US supervised injection site put on hold amid opposition

PHILADELPHIA — Plans to open what could be the nation’s first medically supervised injection site in Philadelphia were put on hold Thursday night amid strenuous opposition from a federal prosecutor and residents of the neighborhood where it would have been located. But this week’s announcement that Safehouse planned to open its first site next week and offer services four hours a day led residents to shout down former Democratic Gov. And it will allow everyone to take a deep breath and focus on the ultimate goal of this effort: to save the lives of fellow Philadelphians who are struggling with addiction.” The opening has been on hold for much of the past year while Judge McHugh held evidentiary hearings to determine whether the plan violates a 1980s-era drug law known as the “crackhouse statute.” McSwain believes it does and sued the Safehouse organizers. “The ultimate goal of Safehouse’s proposed operation is to reduce drug use, not facilitate it, and accordingly, does not prohibit Safehouse’s proposed conduct,” McHugh wrote in a preliminary ruling last fall that he affirmed Tuesday.