Safe injection sites? Not in Kensington, leaders say
Last week, a judge put an indefinite hold on Philadelphia’s plans for a supervised injection site. But according to Billy Penn, Safehouse leaders said if and when it opens, they’re looking at Kensington for its first location.
“Well, that’s not going to happen,” said Quiñones-Sánchez after the press conference. “Ronda [Safehouse VP Ronda Goldfein] and Safehouse need to shut up and listen, they need to shut up and they need to listen. Kensington is not going to be another dumping ground or another pilot. We’re not guinea pigs anymore.”
Hector Ayala, president and CEO of Hispanic Community Counseling Services, who has been providing behavioral and mental health service in the neighborhood for 20 years, said a supervised injection site would serve as a bandage to the problem without providing a long-term solution.
“Yes, it saves life, but we are not addressing why these individuals are here, why these individuals are using, why these individuals feel alone, why these individuals they feel left out of the community,” Ayala said.
The real way of solving the problem, he said, is reconnecting users with their families and their communities.
Ayala said the city and community organizations already have a system in place with people constantly approaching users and creating access for treatment to them. What needs to happen next, he said, is stopping people from injecting themselves in the streets. People who decline treatment or help should be tracked through outreach efforts, he said.
These individuals should “understand that the status quo is not acceptable anymore,” he said.
Ayala said although incarcerating users is not the way of solving the problem either, sometimes, some people, need that “hard approach.”
“When that person makes that decision, that person needs to face the consequences of not getting the help and not engaging in safer behaviors,” he said.
DonPailin said the situation revealed racism and inequities. “It’s all minority neighborhoods so we don’t get the same type of treatment as Roxborough would get,” he said. “[Those areas] don’t look like this.”
Cara Tratner, who lives in the neighborhood and is an activist with Philadelphia Community Bail Fund said it’s not that people don’t want help, it’s that there’s no resources available.
“There’s no housing available. There’s no resources available. People can’t get a source of income. How are people going to survive on the street with no source of income and no housing?” she said.
One Kensington volunteer, Al Perez, who cleans needles and provides Narcan, an overdose-reversing drug, stood throughout the press conference with a sign declaring, “Homelessness is not a crime.”
Perez, who stopped using opioids four years ago, said the city should provide more help and treatment to users. If they refuse treatment, they have to move on, he said.
“Well, they got a choice,” Perez said. “You can’t really do nothing, but they can’t stay in here.”