A state board Thursday approved up to $18 million in funding for controversial “overdose prevention sites” that would allow people to use drugs in a public space where clinicians could make sure they’re safe.
The money would come from the state’s growing $235 million opioid settlement fund.
The fund is generated by Illinois’ share of settlements from lawsuits that states have filed against drug manufacturers and retailers. The fund is expected to rise to least $795 million in Illinois.
New York City and Vancouver, Canada are among the cities that have overdose prevention sites. State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, has previously introduced legislation that would make such sites legal in Illinois.
On Thursday, the Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board voted 8-3 to approve funding for up to three overdose prevention sites, each of which would annually get up to $2 million over a three-year pilot program, for a total of $18 million.
Dr. Miao Jenny Hua, a board member and Chicago’s interim deputy commissioner of behavioral health, was among those who voted for it. Board member Chelsea Laliberte Barnes said there’s “35 to 40 years of global evidence as to why this proposal is critical.”
Details of the pilot program haven’t been worked out, including where the sites would go. But the priority will be given to communities with the highest number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses. Chicago’s West Side has the worst overdose problem in the state.
The opioid settlement board acknowledged the pilot program may need accompanying legislation to protect drug users and clinicians from getting prosecuted under state drug laws.
Last year, the Illinois ACLU and AIDS Foundation of Chicago supported Ford’s proposed legislation to allow the sites. But the bill failed because opponents instead favored a measure to supply jails, hospitals and other institutions with fentanyl test strips.
The board’s funding approval is expected to give a boost to new legislation Ford plans to file in the General Assembly to allow overdose prevention sites to operate legally in the state.
“Living in an area that is probably one of the highest fatal overdose communities, I think this is monumental and it’s actually going to save lives,” Ford, who represents the West Side, said after the board’s vote.
The vote, in his opinion, will be one of the best recommendations to come out of the Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board. Members at Thursday’s meeting echoed Ford’s sentiments, describing it as historic.
“Many people think that this is just about people going into the site to use drugs,” Ford said, adding that the locations are expected to provide other services to address medical issues and job placement. “These sites will be about a safe place where people will have a chance at life and they will have a chance for recovery.”
On Thursday, the opioid settlement board also approved $20 million in one-time statewide housing for people recovering from drug addiction.