•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Opioid overdose deaths have been steadily increasing over the past thirty years. Since 1999, more than 841,000 people have died in the United States from a drug overdose. In 2018, two out of three drug overdose deaths were from opioids. Like the rest of the country, Illinois was not able to escape this public health crisis. Opioid overdoses are the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States, but these deaths are preventable with the right resources. Some jurisdictions have started to look at new solutions to this public health crisis such as supervised injection site.

This Article discusses the effectiveness of supervised injection sites as an innovative solution to the opioid crisis and analyzes how Illinois can successfully implement these sites without violating federal law. Currently, there are no legally operated supervised injection sites in the United States. For those that have tried to implement supervised injection sites, they have been met with federal prosecution. The greatest obstacle in being able to implement supervised injection sites is the federal "crack-house" statute (18 U.S.C. § 856). Thus, this Article analyzes the path forward for the establishment of a supervised injection site in Illinois.

Share

COinS