This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Transcript:
Luis Hernandez: Lynn, remind us again what we mean when we talk about a supervised consumption, or overdose prevention, center.
Lynn Arditi: An overdose prevention center is a place where people can use illegal drugs under the supervision of people trained to prevent overdoses. Research on more than 100 of the centers operating in other countries shows that they’ve reduced drug use in public places and reduced overdose death rates.
Hernandez: In New York City, the top federal prosecutor recently told The New York Times that methods used by the city’s overdose prevention centers are illegal. And he suggested his office may try to shut down their operations. Is that also a risk for the center opening in Rhode Island?
Arditi: Any place in the U.S. that allows people to consume illicit drugs risks running afoul of a federal law, known as the 1986 “crack house statute.” In 2019, the Trump administration used the federal law to try to block an overdose prevention center from opening in Philadelphia. (The case is still in litigation.) But the Biden Administration has been supportive of harm reduction as a strategy. And the administration is funding a research study with Brown University of the overdose prevention centers in Providence and New York City.
Hernandez: Could Rhode Island’s center face a similar blowback?
Arditi: The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Providence declined comment. But keep in mind that one significant difference between New York and Rhode Island is that Rhode Island legalized supervised consumption centers in 2020. (Rhode Island was the first state to legalize the centers; Minnesota was the second.) In Rhode Island, the state Health Department has created regulations to oversee the center’s operation. That’s not the case in New York, where the city authorized the centers to operate.
“The fear of intervention by the federal government has been one of the primary factors for why we don’t have more OPCs across the country,’’ said Kellen Russoniello, senior policy counsel for national nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance.
There’s no indication, he said, that the federal prosecutor in Rhode Island will step in to shut down the center when it opens. But there’s no guarantee.
Hernandez: Are the people planning to house the overdose prevention center in Providence worried?
Arditi: They’re moving very cautiously. CODAC Behavioral Healthcare – which owns the building on Huntington Avenue in Providence where the center will be housed – has a lot at stake. CODAC relies on federal grants to fund its medication-assisted treatment programs.
“CODAC is much more vulnerable than an outreach organization would be,’’ CODAC’s chief executive officer, Linda Hurley, said. “There’s so much more to lose. And not the least of which is the care that we give anywhere from three to five thousand families a year.”
Hernandez: Have there been any repercussions to CODAC with the overdose prevention center?
Arditi: Actually, yes. Hurley said that some private donors withdrew their financial support since CODAC announced they planned to open the overdose prevention center.
“I underestimated the impact of the voices that are strongly – and I’ll just use the word – against having an overdose prevention center,” Hurley said. “There’s been significant repercussions to CODAC already, not legal [but] withdrawal of financial support … I was blindsided.”
Hernandez: Are the legal concerns one reason why it’s taken so long for the overdose prevention center to open?
Arditi: Certainly that’s part of the reason. CODAC also plans to move most of its operations into a new building, and that’s not expected to be ready until mid-November. They’re deciding whether to sell the building where the overdose prevention center will be located, or lease it to the center’s operators. And plans still need to be submitted to the Providence City Council for approval. That’s the next step for Project Weber/RENEW, the nonprofit outreach group that will run the center.
“We would open tomorrow if we could,’’ Colleen Daley Ndoye, the group’s executive director, said. “But we also recognize that doing it in a thoughtful and planful way will actually make it better for the folks who are going to come after us in other states or even in Rhode Island if another one were to open in two years’ time.”
Hernandez: So it sounds like other states will be watching what happens in Rhode Island.
Arditi: That’s exactly right.
Health reporter Lynn Arditi can be reached at larditi@thepublicsradio.org. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @LynnArditi
