Advocates gathered Wednesday at the state Capitol to call for the passage of S.B. 9, which among other public-health initiatives would establish places where drug users can safely use illegal opioids.
Harm reduction centers — also called safe injection site — are found worldwide, in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine, according to Drug Policy Alliance. In the United States, they are legal only in New York. The 22 state senators who are co-sponsoring S.B. 9 hope Connecticut will be the second.
Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) is one of them. He held a news conference in advance of the public hearing on S.B. 9 urging passage of the bill.