Dear Members of the Pennsylvania State Senate, 

I am writing on behalf of the The Everywhere Project to express our organization’s and community’s opposition to Senate Bill 165 which would prevent the implementation of safe consumption sites in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We are a community based nonprofit harm reduction organization working on the ground in Kensington, Philadelphia helping address the complications of the opioid and overdose epidemic in an effort to prevent unintentional drug overdose deaths. 

Our community has been devastated by the effects of the overdose epidemic that continues to worsen despite the efforts of the city of Philadelphia, community organizations, and the medical community. In 2021, there were 1,276 unintentional drug overdose deaths, the highest ever recorded in Philadelphia. These rates have continued to steadily increase since the COVID-19 pandemic and without the implementation of evidence-based interventions proven to decrease overdose risk, overdose rates will continue to grow resulting in thousands of lives lost. 

This bill states that the “Opioid and overdose epidemic has taken the lives of too many Pennsylvanians”  and that policy makers are “Committed to finding the appropriate strategy … to help curb this epidemic and dramatically decrease the amount of overdose deaths occurring in the Commonwealth”. However, the prohibition of safe consumption sites directly undermines this statement as research in 2021 found that safe consumption sites help reduce overdose rates, syringe sharing, and HIV/Hepatitis C transmission without an observed increase in drug use rates nor neighborhood crime. Safe consumption sites have also been proven to reduce health care costs by preventing HIV/Hepatitis C, hospitalizations for soft tissue infections, overdoses, ambulance calls, and emergency department visits in conjunction with increases in substance use treatment uptake.

Safe consumption sites are an evidence-based and effective public health intervention that has been successfully implemented in many countries that prioritizes saving lives. This bill, if passed, will only worsen the overdose epidemic and contribute to the loss of life that is otherwise preventable. This is not a matter of morals and values but rather one of humanity and whether the lives of your fellow Pennsylvanians are worth being saved.  Safe consumption sites are the appropriate strategy to address the opioid and overdose epidemic. Safe consumption sites are the appropriate strategy to save lives. 

We implore you to reconsider this bill and think of the lives that will be lost if this bill is passed. We beg you to vote no to this bill because our community needs support and life-saving measures. Our community is deserving of every public health service available to prevent the loss of more lives. Our community is deserving of support and we are begging, imploring, and requesting that you vote no to Senate Bill 165 and help us save lives. 

Thank you.