California governor rejects legal drug injection sites

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Monday that he said could have brought “a world of unintended consequences” by allowing Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco to set up sites where opioid users could legally inject drugs under supervision.

“The unlimited number of safe injection sites that this bill would authorize — facilities which could exist well into the later part of this decade — could induce a world of unintended consequences,” Newsom said in vetoing the bill.

While they could be helpful, he worried that “if done without a strong plan, they could work against this purpose. … Worsening drug consumption challenges in these areas is not a risk we can take.”

It was one of the most watched and most controversial measures of this legislative session and came amid a spike in overdose deaths during a national opioid crisis.

Proponents wanted to give people who already would use drugs a place to inject them while trained staff stand by to help if they suffer accidental overdoses.

But opponents said the move in effect would have condoned the use of dangerous drugs.

Newsom, a Democrat, had previously said he was open to the idea. But his decision comes as he faces increased national scrutiny as he is perceived as a possible presidential contender, though he has frequently denied any interest in running.

The sites would “help us address the explosion of overdose deaths that we’re seeing in California and, frankly, throughout this country,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco who authored the California legislation, said as lawmakers sent the bill to Newsom earlier this month.

But Senate GOP Leader Scott Wilk said in a statement at the same time that the bill amounts to “giving people free needles and a safe place to shoot up.”

Wilk and other Senate Republicans sent a letter to Newsom urging him to reject creating “drug dens” that they said could potentially subject local providers to federal charges, though U.S. officials have said they are considering allowing the sites with “appropriate guardrails.”

“Allowing people to get higher than a kite on heroin and other dangerous drugs, then turning them loose afterwards onto the streets is just crazy,” objected Republican Sen. Brian Jones.

The first two publicly recognized overdose prevention sites in the United States opened in New York City in December and have been credited with intervening in more than 150 overdoses. Rhode Island approved testing similar centers for two years.