ACTION STEPS
Call (717)787-5970 and ask to speak with Sen. Williams’ staff member Kyle Miller (if you’re unable to call, Kyle can also be reached via email.
Sample Call:
Hello, my name is [name] from [your town of residence and your zip code]. I am calling today because Pennsylvania is in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic. [Share personal story if you want].
Our current approaches are falling short. In 2018 across our state, 4,491 human lives were lost to fatal drug overdose.
This number would surely be much higher if it were not for PA’s standing order for naloxone, under which everyday citizens are entrusted to reverse overdoses. But under Senate Bill 933, designating space for overdose prevention and reversal would become illegal under all but the most stringent circumstances.
The Trump administration has already and failed to outlaw safe consumption spaces in federal court. I urge Senator Williams to halt similar efforts in the senate chambers by withdrawing this bill. If, as the senator states, we want, “Those struggling with addiction have access to the resources they need,” these resources must be available at the lowest possible barriers. Saving lives is not a crime.
Find your Senator:
- Visit PA’s Find Your Legislator space.
- Type in your address
- Click the name of your local representative (next to PA senator)
- Scroll to find the number for their office
- Call your representative
Hello, my name is [name] from [your town of residence and your zip code]. I am calling today because Pennsylvania is in the midst of a drug overdose crisis, and safe consumption spaces are needed in communities across Pennsylvania.
Our current approaches are falling short. In 2018 across our state, 4,491 human lives were lost to fatal drug overdose. [Share personal story if you want].
Research has demonstrated that after safe consumption spaces are opened, communities see decreases in overdose rates, public injection, and discarded syringes. On October 2nd a federal judge, the Hon. Gerald Austin McHugh, Jr. ruled safe consumption spaces do not violate federal law.
In response to this ruling, Senator Anthony H Williams’ is attempting to block Pennsylvania communities from seeing the benefits safe consumption spaces will provide, in all but the most stringent of circumstances. I urge you to refuse any support Sen Williams’ bill, and further to endorse low barrier safe consumption spaces as a necessary intervention in fighting the drug overdose epidemic. Saving lives is not a crime.
We need your help rallying support for safe consumption spaces! Sign on to this letter of support, and we’ll be in touch with updates and action alerts. And if your organization, company, congregation, class, union, or any other group would like to officially sign on, please get in touch!
Pennsylvania is in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic. In 2018 across our state, 4,491 human lives were lost to fatal drug overdose. Our current approaches are falling short. As individuals and organizations, we see safe consumption spaces (SCS) as a vital tool in reducing drug overdose deaths.
Over 30 years, a dozen countries and over 100 spaces, research has demonstrated the benefits for communities home to SCS. After these sites are opened, their neighborhoods see decreases of up to 60% in overdose rates, decreases in public injection, and decreases in discarded syringes. These areas also do not see increases in crime or active drug user populations.
In October of 2018 a nonprofit group called Safehouse announced plans to open a SCS in Philadelphia. And in February of 2019, a Trump-appointed attorney general sued Safehouse to block such a space from opening. A case in federal court followed and on October 2nd the Hon. Gerald Austin McHugh, Jr. ruled that SCS do not violate federal law. “I cannot conclude that Safehouse has, as a significant purpose, the objective of facilitating drug use,” he wrote in his opinion. “The ultimate goal of Safehouse’s proposed operation is to reduce drug use, not facilitate it. Safehouse plans to make a place available for the purposes of reducing the harm of drug use, administering medical care, encouraging drug treatment, and connecting participants with social services.”
Days later, Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony Williams announced plans to propose banning SCS in Pennsylvania, stating, “Let us not forget that heroin remains an illegal drug and a deadly killer of Pennsylvanians across the commonwealth. In the midst of an epidemic, we should not be providing spaces for users to continue to use without requiring treatment.”
We find Sen Williams’ logic misinformed, dangerous and irresponsible. Fentanyl overdoses are robbing us of our loved ones. Too many people have died from preventable deaths, and will continue to die without spaces dedicated to overdose prevention and reversal. I oppose harmful policies which seek to raise barriers towards safe consumption spaces in communities which need them. Saving lives is not a crime.