Golden State Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill on Monday that would have allowed major Californian cities like San Francisco, San Diego, or Los Angeles to set up facilities that would allow people to take drugs legally and under supervision, commonly known as a safe injection site.
Newsom’s reasoning, he said, was that allowing such sites “could induce a world of unintended consequences.”
He said that while he believed such sites could be helpful, he said 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,” said Newsom, according to Fox News.
Those for the bill wanted to give drug addicts a place to safely inject drugs while staff stand by to help in case of an emergency. Opponents say that the move gives addicts a green light, and condones the use of dangerous, illegal drugs that harm communities and users.
One proponent of the bill, California Democrat Scott Wiener, who is known for his other bright ideas like relaxing punishments for sex offenders and providing mandatory Drag Queen classes to young children, said in a tweet: “Gov. Newsom vetoed our legislation to authorize SF, Oakland & LA to implement safe consumption sites.
“The veto is tragic & a huge lost opportunity. These sites are proven to save lives & connect people to treatment. Sad day for CA’s fight against overdose deaths.”
“SB 57 is not a radical bill by any stretch of the imagination. It simply gives permission to cities, each of which has requested that permission, to pilot safe consumption sites to save lives and get people into treatment,” he argued.
Gov. Newsom vetoed our legislation to authorize SF, Oakland & LA to implement safe consumption sites.
The veto is tragic & a huge lost opportunity. These sites are proven to save lives & connect people to treatment. Sad day for CA’s fight against overdose deaths.
My statement: pic.twitter.com/YYrnZTlEss
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) August 22, 2022
“We don’t need additional studies or working groups to determine whether safe consumption sites are effective,” he argued, also saying that other famously safe cities like New York City had “successfully” implemented safe consumption sites under Eric Adams. Crime in New York has jumped by 31 percent in the last year.
