A Mayor Wants Space Where Addicts Can Inject Heroin Safely

The mayor of Ithaca wants his city in upstate New York to host the nation’s first supervised injection facility, enabling heroin users to shoot illegal drugs into their bodies under the care of a nurse without getting arrested by police.

Ithaca, N.Y. Mayor Svante Myrick speaks during at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington on Jan. 21, 2016. Myrick wants his city to become the first in the U.S. to offer heroin users a safe, controlled place to shoot up. Supervised injection sites, in which a trained medical professional is on hand to deal with overdoses, are already in operation in Europe and Canada, but the idea never gained acceptance in America's law-and-order approach to the war on drugs. AP Photo/Cliff Owen

ALBANY, N.Y.—The mayor of Ithaca wants his city in upstate New York to host the nation’s first supervised injection facility, enabling heroin users to shoot illegal drugs into their bodies under the care of a nurse without getting arrested by police.

The son of an addict who abandoned his family, Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick is only 28 years old, but knows intimately how destructive drugs can be. As he worked his way from a homeless shelter into the Ivy League at Cornell University and then became Ithaca’s youngest mayor four years ago, Myrick encountered countless people who never got the help they needed.

I have watched for 20 years this system that just doesn't work. We can't wait anymore ... too many of them are dying.

— Svante Myrick, mayor, Ithaca, N.Y.