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September 27, 2023
TO THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA:
For the following reasons, I am returning herewith to your Honorable Body as disapproved, Bill Number 230410, introduced into City Council on May 11, 2023, by Councilmember Lozada. Bill No. 230410 amends Chapter 14-500 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Overlay Zoning Districts," to add an overlay district pertaining to "injection sites for narcotics," all under certain terms and conditions.
This legislation is aimed at what the bill calls "narcotic injection sites," or medical facilities where individuals may use drugs (theirs, not acquired on location) under the supervision of professional staff trained to prevent fatal overdoses. The Administration refers to these facilities as Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs) because that is their primary purpose: preventing fatal drug overdoses.
Extensive scientific research on OPCs around the world has shown that OPCs save lives, improve access to treatment and recovery, and reduce public outdoor drug use and biohazardous waste in the surrounding areas. They do not promote drug use; they simply make it non-fatal. They do not encourage drug use out in the neighborhood; they bring it inside, where participants can also find connections to treatment, housing, medical care, and more.
Bill Number 230410 is therefore troublingly anti-science and misleading, not only blocking the opening of OPCs but also validating misplaced fears and fallacies about a lifesaving medical model that would benefit all members of the communities impacted by drug use.?
There are many ways to ensure community input on the planning and implementation of any new initiative without the need for a zoning overlay. I agree that community conversations about how an OPC would be implemented are an appropriate expectation. What is not appropriate, given the facts detailed below, is handing the approval of any OPC at all to the loudest voices i...
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