Philly’s supervised injection site nonprofit will again start settlement talks with the feds

Safehouse, the nonprofit seeking to open a place in Philadelphia where people in addiction can use drugs under medical supervision, has agreed to engage in mediated talks with the federal government in the hope of resolving a years-long legal challenge blocking its plans.

The move changes the expected timeline for the next steps in the court case. The federal government had been expected to respond in the suit by Jan. 9, but the new plans render that deadline moot, said Ronda Goldfein, Safehouse’s vice president.

» READ MORE: New York’s supervised injection sites have halted nearly 700 overdoses in just over a year

“We agreed with the Department of Justice to move in this direction to reach a settlement and get the lawsuit resolved,” said Goldfein, who declined to comment on the confidential settlement conversations, but said the organization’s goals “have not changed.”

“We seek a resolution that all parties can live with that give us the opportunity to save lives,” she said.

Representatives from the Department of Justice declined to comment.

Safehouse has been embroiled in a legal battle to open a supervised consumption site since 2019, when the Justice Department sued to block the opening of a site in Philadelphia where people can use drugs while monitored and be revived if they overdose. Then-U.S. Attorney William N. McSwain, a Trump appointee, personally argued the case in federal court.

» READ MORE: How do sites for supervised drug use work? A primer.

U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh ruled in Safehouse’s favor, but an appellate court overturned his decision in late 2020, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Safehouse then returned to court — again before McHugh — on a number of legal claims that had not been considered in the original ruling. With the latest move, McHugh will still preside over the case, but Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lloret will now supervise mediation talks.

Since President Joe Biden took office, his Department of Justice has signaled a potentially softer stance toward supervised consumption sites. They did not go to court to prosecute when local officials in New York City — which is in a different federal judicial district than Philadelphia — allowed two sites to open in November 2021, and in February 2022 indicated that they were engaging in settlement talks with Safehouse representatives in Philadelphia.

Since November 2021, New York’s sites have served more than 2,200 experienced drug users more than 50,000 times, with 672 overdoses treated. No one has died at the centers. Without these facilities, many of these overdoses would have been deadly unless somebody with a dose of overdose-reversing medication Narcan happened to be present, staff there say.

But officials at the New York sites say they have struggled to find funding, and are closely watching the Philadelphia court case in hopes the federal government will take a definitive stance on supervised consumption sites.