As the Biden administration has promoted its intent to take a harm reduction approach to the overdose crisis, advocates have been eagerly waiting to see if that might extend to authorizing safe consumption sites where people can consume illegal substances under medical supervision. But in a blow to activists, the Justice Department is now rejecting legal arguments about possible statutory exceptions to the federal prohibition on such facilities and is moving to dismiss a lawsuit on the issue.
In a motion filed last week in a years-long legal challenge—which comes after months of negotiations that left supporters hopeful for a result that would finally allow for the opening of a safe drug consumption facility in Philadelphia called Safehouse, which was originally blocked under the Trump administration—DOJ is asking a federal court to dismiss the case.
There were lingering questions about how the Justice Department under President Joe Biden would navigate the issue, with some signs that it might cede the case and clear the way for the harm reduction strategy to proceed. That appeared to prompt Pennsylvania lawmakers to work to enact a statewide ban on the harm reduction centers, with a bipartisan bill to prohibit their operations passing the
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