PHILADELPHIA – A federal appeals court became the latest panel to wrestle with the nation’s opioid epidemic as judges reviewed a long-debated plan Monday to open a medically supervised injection site in Philadelphia.
U.S. Attorney William McSwain, an appointee of President Donald Trump, opposes the idea and hopes to overturn the approval of a federal judge who heard the case last year.Safehouse, a nonprofit group, had announced plans to open a site in South Philadelphia in February, but the opening was thwarted by neighborhood opposition and shutdowns linked to the coronavirus pandemic.
McSwain meanwhile pursued the appeal.He argued in court again Monday that the proposal violates a 1980s-era drug law known as the “crackhouse statute,”.