DOJ, San Francisco May Soon Square Off Over Public Drug-Injection Sites

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Aug. 30, 2018 in Washington. In an Aug. 27 opinion piece, Rosenstein warned that employees of Safe Injection Sites would be breaking the law and subject to prosecution. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The federal government and the city of San Francisco appear to be on a collision course over the operation of public facilities for the purpose of injecting illegal drugs, known as safe injection sites (SIS).

Mayor London Breed toured a mockup of an SIS—no injecting is taking place yet—at its grand opening on Aug. 29. The site, called Safe Inside, is located in the Glide Memorial Church in the city’s Tenderloin District. It remained open through Aug. 31 for the public to tour.