'What’s the value of that life?' RI House passes extension of overdose prevention centers.

• The Rhode Island House of Representatives voted to extend the state-sanctioned overdose prevention center pilot for two more years.
• A Providence site opened in January and has served 135 distinct individuals.
• One lawmaker expressed concerns that a state-supervised center allowing illicit drug use "sends a negative message to our youth and to the people of Rhode Island."

PROVIDENCE – House lawmakers have approved a measure that would extend the life of Rhode Island’s state-sanctioned overdose centers by two years as researchers collect data about their efficacy.

Amid compelling firsthand accounts of loved ones lost to overdose deaths, the state House of Representatives passed legislation on a 51-17 vote Tuesday that would extend the pilot program through 2028.

The country’s first state-sanctioned overdose prevention center opened its doors in Providence in January under the oversight of Project Weber/RENEW. The site provides a safe place for illicit drug users to consume substances under the watch of professionals trained to intervene if a person overdoses. Clients are provided with services such as medical treatment, peer support, counseling and other resources, with an aim of edging people toward recovery when they are ready and in the meantime saving lives.

According to lead sponsor Rep. John G. Edwards, D-Tiverton, who called it “one more quiver to save people’s lives,” 135 distinct people have used the center, with 22 overdose interventions since its opening.

It remains unclear what the federal stance on such centers is under President Donald Trump’s administration. A spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Justice did not respond to an inquiry.

State lawmaker shares tragic firsthand account

The vote came amid passionate testimony both for and against the extension.

Rep. Gregory J. Costantino provided a compelling account taken from his own family’s experience.

He told of his 15-year-old older brother urging him at age 14 to try marijuana, saying that it would relax him. He then watched as his brother graduated to cocaine, heroin, crack and eventually pills until he was “out of control.”

Costantino recalled asking his brother what it was that he enjoyed about drugs and him explaining that once you get high, you always chase that high – something he would never understand.

“At 27 years old, I had to bury my brother," Costantino, D-Lincoln, said. "We buried my brother and devastated, devastated our family."

Though he is “totally” against drug use, he urged passage of the legislation extending the sunset on the initiative by two years.

“If this harm-reduction center saves one person – what’s the value of that life? I’d give everything that I have –everything I own – to see my brother one more time,” he said. “We lost a brother at 27 years old.”

Lawmakers voice concerns

Rep. Arthur J. Corvese, D-North Providence, characterized such centers as “state-sanctioned opium dens.” (There are areas where people can smoke substances and others where they can inject under staff observation at the Willard Avenue center.)

“I think as a matter of public policy, it sends a negative message to our youth and to the people of Rhode Island,” Corvese said.

Edwards – who lost two cousins to overdose deaths – observed that substance-use disorders and the center itself transcend politics.

“It has only one mission … and that is to save lives. Whether you condone drug use, drug use is going to continue,” said Edwards, a longtime supporter of the intervention.

Rep. Thomas E. Noret, a former Coventry police officer, cautioned that people leaving the center could be getting behind the wheel or walking still under the influence.

“That is not saving lives,” said Noret, D-Coventry. Noret was part of a bipartisan collection of state lawmakers who authored an opinion piece in The Journal urging their colleague to reject the measure.

"While proponents claim these centers reduce overdoses and connect users with treatment, the reality is that they normalize and enable illegal drug use with no meaningful path to recovery or demonstrable track record of success," they wrote.

Democratic Rep. José F. Batista, whose Providence district houses the center, said he initially shared those concerns but had since had a change of heart.

“Perhaps, if our punitive measures haven’t worked over the last 50 years, we should try something different,” he said.

How we got here

In 2021, Rhode Island became the first state in the nation to authorize overdose prevention centers, a harm-reduction strategy advocates believe will save lives and cut down on costly emergency runs as the state experiences record accidental opioid overdose deaths.

Such centers must first be approved by city or town leaders in the community in which they are proposed before being licensed by the state Department of Health.

Project Weber/RENEW and VICTA teamed up to scout sites and create a space, eventually settling on 45 Willard Ave. for its proximity to hospitals and a bus line.  Hailing it as a “game changer,” the City Council lent its approval to the site early last year. The project is funded, in part, by $3.25 million in opioid settlement money.

The center held a ceremonial ribbon-cutting in December attended by Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, who is in recovery, and other backers.

In 2022, Rhode Island experienced a record 436 accidental overdose deaths, 323 of which involved fentanyl. The number of deaths dropped to 404 in 2023.

In June 2023, the state also began testing for the animal tranquilizer xylazine – or “tranq” – in opioid-involved overdoses. From June 2023 to December 2023, approximately one in five people who died from an opioid-involved overdose also had xylazine contributing to their cause of death, according to the state Department of Health.

The measure extending the pilot program will now head to the state Senate, lawmakers said.