As Seattle Reels From An HIV Outbreak, Safe Consumption Sites Make More and More Sense

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) alarmingly reports a 286 percent increase in cases of HIV among heterosexual persons injecting drugs in King County, Washington from 2017 and mid‐​November 2018. The report recalls a similar outbreak for similar reasons in rural Indiana that took place between 2011 and 2014, and ultimately led the state to enact legislation permitting needle‐​exchange programs to operate there. 


As I explain in my policy analysis on harm reduction strategies, needle exchange programs have a more than 40 year track record reducing the spread of HIV, hepatitis, and other blood‐​borne diseases, and are endorsed by the CDC and the Surgeon General, but are prohibited in many states by local anti‐​paraphernalia laws. But such laws are not the problem in the state of Washington. Needle exchange programs have operated legally there for years.


Safe Consumption Sites have been shown to be even more effective in reducing the spread of HIV and hepatitis, as well as preventing overdoses. The nearby city of Vancouver, BC has found they dramatically reduced cases of HIV as well as overdoses since 2003.


Recognizing this, the Seattle city council voted in 2017 to permit the establishment of two safe consumption sites, which are obstructed by federal law, in particular the so‐​called “Crack House Statute” passed in the 1980s, which makes it a felony to “knowingly open, lease, rent, use, or maintain any place for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, or using any controlled substance.” A non‐​profit group in Philadelphia is attempting to set up a “Safe House” there, and has already been met with the threat of prosecution from the Department of Justice. Former Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell, a principal of that non‐​profit, spoke about this at a recent conference on harm reduction held at the Cato Institute.


With safe consumption sites working in more than 120 major cities throughout the developed world, including several in neighboring Canada — and with outbreaks of HIV developing across the US — lawmakers who claim to be deeply concerned about the plague of disease and overdoses afflicting the country should put their money where their mouth is and repeal the outdated “Crack House Statute” so cities and towns can get to work saving lives.