Court Blocks Philly Drug Injection Site

In a divided decision announced on Tuesday, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals blocked a Philadelphia non-profit group’s plan to open a safehouse where addicts can safely inject illegal drugs.  Maryclaire Dale of the Associated Press reports that in the opinion for the 2-1 majority, Judge Sephanos Bibas sympathized with the goal of the non-profit called Safehouse, but noted that federal law makes it a crime to open a property for others to ingest illegal drugs.  Four organizations including the Pennsylvania House of Representatives filed amicus briefs in support of the U.S. Attorney, while fourteen groups, including the ACLU, law professors and several states including California and Virginia,  filed briefs in support of Safehouse.

In her dissent, Circuit Judge Jane R. Roth called it “absurd” for federal law to prohibit Safehouse from providing a place for addicts to inject illegal drugs while parents are allowed to give children drugs (does she mean prescription medications) to keep them alive.  Hard to believe that a judge would consider these equivalent.