Two Rhode Island nonprofits announced Wednesday the location of the country’s first state-regulated center where people can use illegal drugs under medical supervision.
Project Weber/RENEW, a peer-led harm reduction and recovery group, and its partner, the clinical services provider VICTA, plan to open the “overdose prevention center” next to the campus of Rhode Island Hospital, in Providence.
Project Weber/RENEW has signed an agreement to lease the building at 45 Willard Ave., for a few months until it raises the rest of the nearly $3 million it needs to buy the building, said Colleen Daley Ndoye, the organization’s executive director. The state already has committed $2.6 million in opioid settlement funds to open the center, which includes money for salaries, Ndoye said. The building will need minimal work, she said, prior to opening. It’s expected to open as early as this summer.
The center’s proximity to other medical facilities has practical benefits and symbolic meaning for those caring for people addicted to drugs. The center will have easy access to emergency medical care if needed. And the location near other medical facilities could remove some of the stigma associated with substance use disorders.
“It just says…it doesn’t have to be a secret, it doesn’t have to feel shameful’’ to get help, said Lisa Peterson, VICTA’s chief operating officer.
The 20,500-square-foot building will have space for medical, clinical and social support services. The center will allow people to use pre-obtained illicit substances under the supervision of trained professionals. The clients also will be able to test their drugs for fentanyl and other substances and be supervised by people who can administer naloxone, known as Narcan, in case of an overdose,
The center will be near the hospital’s emergency department, which treats scores of people each month for drug overdoses.
“There are folks being released from the emergency room in their johnny’s and we see them sometimes on Broad Street,’’ Ndoye said. If those patients are referred to the overdose-prevention center, she said, they’ll be able to address basic needs – showers, clothing, food and toiletries – along with case management and treatment.
Rhode Island reported 436 overdose deaths in 2022, the most recent confirmed state data.
It’s been 3 ½ years since Rhode Island became the first state in the country to legalize safe places where people can consume illegal drugs, in 2020.
The center’s operators originally had planned to locate the center at the Huntington Avenue building owned by CODAC, the state’s largest nonprofit provider of opioid treatment services. But the plan was scrapped, Ndoye said, after CODAC’s move into a new facility was delayed.
At least 100 supervised consumption sites, also known as safe injection sites, operate around the world, mainly in Canada, Europe and Australia. In late 2021, New York City opened the nation’s first supervised injection site. Similar sites have been proposed in cities including San Francisco, Denver, Seattle and Philadelphia and nearby Somerville, Massachusetts.