Aishwarya Rathore-
Published On: October 14, 2021 at 19:51 IST
The US Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from Safehouse, a Non-profit organisation that wanted to operate a Supervised Injection Site in Philadelphia to reduce overdose casualties.
The Justices observed while rejecting the Petition, “Federal law was not meant to criminalise the opening of sites where people in addiction could take drugs under medical supervision, be revived if they overdosed, and receive treatment.”
The Judgement by the Court is a setback for more than 24 States and Towns who supported the concerned Petition.
In January, a US Appeals Court rejected the Safehouse proposal.
According to the organizers of the Safehouse project, existing federal ‘crackhouse’ laws are not intended to prosecute Medically Supervised Institutions.
Safehouse Vice President Ronda Goldfein believes the fight is far from finished.
In the lawsuit, a Trial Judge ruled in favour of Safehouse, but the Federal Appeals Court reversed the Judgement and sided with the Republican Justice Department in declaring the proposal illegal.
So far, the Justice Department under President Joe Biden has remained neutral in the case.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were more than 93,000 overdose deaths in the United States last year.
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