Quetcy M. Lozada, a first-term Philadelphia City Council member, stood on a September evening near an elementary school just off Kensington Avenue, the epicenter of a sprawling fentanyl market in a city that saw a record 1,413 drug overdose deaths last year.
Just a block away, the street and sidewalks were dotted with used syringes and their discarded orange caps.
“Kids have to go through this every day,” Ms. Lozada said, her voice rising. Children “are so impacted that they don’t want to come to school.”
Public health experts have long endorsed a controversial strategy to blunt the opioid epidemic that has been sweeping cities like Philadelphia: supervised drug consumption sites, in which people are allowed to take illicit drugs under professional supervision.
To Combat the Opioid Epidemic, Cities Ponder Facilities for Drug Use
