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Mass. lawmakers could approve overdose prevention centers after last-minute amendment
With just more than day left in the state's legislative session, some lawmakers are frustrated with the timing of the major amendment, which leaves little room for discussion.
A last-minute amendment could allow overdose prevention centers, also known as supervised consumption sites, to open in Massachusetts.
But with one day until the end of the state’s legislative session, the proposal may have come too late to reasonably expect it to pass, a leading lawmaker said Tuesday.
House Speaker Ronald Mariano took a jab at Senate Democrats after a committee amended an opioid crisis response bill on Monday to allow overdose prevention centers, sites where people can use pre-obtained illicit drugs under supervision. The House had previously passed their version of the bill weeks earlier in June.
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“Anytime you release a bill the day before the session ends, it’s a very difficult expectation for us to hear it, especially when it has proposals, major proposals, that we haven’t even had the opportunity to debate or vote on,” Mariano told reporters. “It sort of tells me you’re not really serious about passing the bill to begin with.”
Senate President Karen Spilka appeared to jab back at Mariano, saying the House also produced new proposals for voting on Tuesday, State House News Service reported.
“They’re doing so many I can’t keep track of them,” Spilka told reporters.
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Sseeming to use Mariano’s words back to him, she said “it sort of tells you that they’re not really serious about passing the bill to begin with.”
Wednesday is the deadline to pass legislation during the current session, including bills that address housing affordability, the planned professional soccer stadium in Everett, and hospital oversight, SHNS reported.
Could Massachusetts soon see overdose prevention centers?
The amendment allows “harm reduction programs,” defined as a state-approved service to decrease overdoses by supervising people using pre-obtained drugs. The facilities, sometimes called safe injection sites, offer drug users overdose reversal care, primary care, treatment plans, and social services.
With opioid-related overdose deaths still at a record high in Massachusetts, advocates say the centers will decrease opioid-related overdose deaths. The Department of Public Health released a feasibility report in December that called the centers “necessary.”
“People are using drugs anyways … this brings people from the alleyways and the parks and in their cars and using alone, to a place where they can safely use their drugs under the supervision of a professional,” Deirdre Calvert, Director Bureau of Substance Addiction Services for DPH, told Boston.com at the time.
If the amendment passes, cities and towns would be allowed to authorize overdose prevention centers. The bill would provide immunity for providers who work at the centers, which are federally illegal.
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Rhode Island opened the first state-regulated center in the country this year, while New York City launched a privately run center in 2021. In March, Worcester health officials voted to support launching an overdose prevention center pilot program, which would be the first in the state.
Massachusetts for Overdose Prevention Centers, a coalition sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, thanked the Senate for their “bold action” in a statement.
“The House has already passed important legislation to address the opioid crisis, and the Senate has now taken steps to create a local option for life-saving overdose prevention centers,” MA4OPC wrote. “We urge the House and Senate to combine these measures and ensure the strongest solutions land on Governor Healey’s desk.”
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