Community groups push for safe injection sites in Portland

PORTLAND (WGME) – There’s renewed attention this week in Portland on the issue of safe injection sites, the same week police reported a series of fatal overdoses in the city.

Most at Maine hearing favor creation of safe injection site

Members of the group “The Church of Safe Injection” testified to Portland City Council committees Tuesday night, and they demonstrated on Sunday on the steps of city hall, calling on city and state policymakers to change the law.

“It’s not going to go through easy, but we’ve also never had this many organizations coming together at one point,” The Church of Safe Injection Director Kari Morisette said.

Morisette is pushing for Portland to offer a safe use site in the city.

She argues a supervised injection site would help prevent overdoses, diseases and clean up neighborhoods.

“It’s not only going to decrease the amount of overdoses, but it’s also going to decrease the amount of used syringes you see on the street,” Morisette said.

The problem with setting up a safe injection site is that they are illegal.

Both state and federal law prohibit safe injection sites.

CBS13 traveled to Montreal in 2018 to see how it works there. The site said nobody had ever died of an overdose there.

In-Depth: How safe-injection sites work

With Maine set to break its own overdose record, Morisette points to other steps lawmakers could take, like voters did on Election Day in Oregon.

“They decriminalized simple possession for people who use, to not prosecute them like harsh drug dealers,” Morisette said.

With all of this in consideration, community leaders say something has to change, though a safe use site is the one of the best options for public health.

“Hey, you’ve shared needles for the past three years and you’re wondering if you have HIV? Come take a test,” Morisette said. “We can do that. Hey, you don’t feel so good, you might have Endo carditis and could be on the road to death? Let’s get you checked out.”

The city council won’t meet to discuss this subject again until after the new year. Morisette hopes by then they will be ready to take action.