Littwin: The legislature reconsiders letting Colorado cities open supervised injection sites for illicit drugs
The Colorado legislature is apparently ready to try once again to do something significant — if something also significantly controversial — toward combating the state’s fentanyl-fueled, opioid-overdose crisis, which is not unlike the devastating fentanyl-fueled, opioid-overdose crisis facing the rest of America.
And once again, the attempt will probably fail, just as it did last year. And that would be a shame.
Still, in a party-line vote, the legislature’s opioid study committee has called for a bill to be drafted that would authorize cities to create what they’re calling overdose prevention centers — or, maybe more accurately, supervised safe-injection sites.
At these sites, people could legally use illicit drugs while under the supervision of health care workers, who would have naloxone — which, as Narcan, is a legal nasal spray that treats opioid overdoses — on site. The site would have fresh needles, so people wouldn’t share them. They could also offer, in the best case, food and showers and, yes, drug counseling. You get the idea.