Overdose deaths have risen rapidly around the country during the pandemic. It's a trend driven

largely by the spread of fentanyl. In California, the push to save lives and stop the fallout

has led some activists and politicians to propose safe injection sites, places where people can take

drugs with clean needles without any fear of

arrest. There's already one site like that operating unofficially in San Francisco,

but out in Vancouver in Canada, there's a neighborhood that has hosted a safe injection site,

a totally legal one, for almost 20 years. Fentanyl? Yes.

It's actually kind of a pretty color.

I don't know why that one is it.

It's actually a pretty lavender, isn't it?

Yeah, well, we keep on a look at it.

I'm Gustavo Ariano.

You're listening to The Times, Daily News from the LA Times.

It's Friday, May 27, 2022.

Today, the tricky choices in setting up safe injection sites.

Can you give people a safe space to do drugs without encouraging addiction?

I think. Anita Shabrier is my colleague and fellow columnist. She writes about California.

Anita, welcome to the Times.

Thanks for having me on.

So you recently went inside a safe injection site in Vancouver. What did you see?

It was really eye-opening. I didn't know what to expect when I went up to inside a safe injection site of Vancouver. What did you see?

It was really eye-opening.

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