A federal court has granted the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss a challenge from a Pennsylvania-based harm reduction center that’s been seeking to open an overdose prevention site where people could use currently illicit drugs in a supervised setting while receiving treatment resources.
In an order and attached memo on Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said that while it’s “self-evident” that the non-profit Safehouse holds “noble intentions” to reduce the harms of the overdose crisis, it could not accept its arguments that the federal ban on providing safe drug consumption services violated the group’s religious rights.
DOJ first blocked Safehouse from opening the overdose prevention center under the Trump administration. Supporters hoped the department would cede the issue under President Joe Biden, who has promoted harm reduction policies as an alternative to criminalization, but the parties could not reach an agreement to allow the facility to open despite months of “good faith” negotiations.
Safehouse had asserted that it should be exempt from federal prosecution because its harm reduction mission is guided by Judeo-Christian values, therefore entitling it to protections under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and freedom of expression clause of the First
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