BOSTON — Opening a supervised drug injection site in Massachusetts would require a new law, Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said Wednesday, noting that such a proposal remains "clearly illegal" despite a commission she helmed recommending the state pilot one or more sites as it works to stem the mounting death toll from opioid overdoses.
Legislators on Wednesday formally discussed recommendations made by the Harm Reduction Commission for the first time since the group completed its work in March, inviting Sudders and other members of the commission to testify on their findings.
Sudders briefed the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery on the commission's findings. Supervised consumption sites, she said, are in place in 10 other countries the group studied, where not a single overdose fatality has been reported within the space itself.
As she left the hearing, though, Sudders told reporters that lawmakers at either the state or federal level will need to act for the commission's recommended pilot to come to fruition. U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling has vowed that he would prosecute any attempt to open a supervised consumption site in Massachusetts.
State House News Service
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