Somerville To Resume Talks Over Safe Drug Use Site

SOMERVILLE, MA — Officials will reconsider a proposal to establish a safe injection site in Somerville after plans were scrapped last year due to the pandemic.

The city will host a Town Hall meeting from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 25, to provide more information about supervised consumption sites. Such sites have been implemented in more than 10 countries, including Canada, Australia and across Europe, to prevent fatal overdoses and connect people to intervention services.

Drug users are allowed to take substances under the supervision of staff, who can intervene in the event of an overdose or other medical emergency. Additional wraparound services like basic health care, housing support and recovery resources are also frequently offered at a supervised consumption site.

But the plan has not been without its detractors. Former U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said such sites are prohibited under federal law, and an effort to open one in Philadelphia was shot down by Appeals Court judges earlier this year.

"Barring a change in the Justice Department's position, if Somerville opens one, federal enforcement will follow," Lelling said in 2019.

Somerville's supervised consumption site would be the first in the United States.

Participate in the Town Hall online or by phone:

• The meeting will be hosted on Zoom, and there will also be an option to call into the meeting from a phone.
• Visit somervillema.gov/virtualtownhall at the start time of the meeting to join live or get call-in information.
• The Somerville Public Schools will also send meeting information via their alert system to all student families and conduct additional multilingual outreach via the School’s Somerville Family Learning Collaborative.
• Call-in information will also be available on the day of each meeting on City Cable TV and the Educational Channel (channels 13 & 15 on RCN, channels 15 & 22 on Comcast) or by calling 311.
• You can submit feedback and questions about information presented at the meeting online at http://bit.ly/SCSComments. The comment form will be left open until Friday, June 11.