The new facility in Providence, operated by the nonprofit Project Weber/RENEW, provides a place for people to use drugs under medical supervision. Rhode Island is the only state to have approved and written regulations for supervised-consumption sites.

A ribbon cutting was held Tuesday for both Rhode Island’s and the United State’s first state-sanctioned overdose prevention center. The center on Willard Avenue in Providence will allow addicts to use drugs in a safe space,

Jason first started using fentanyl a few years ago, when the pandemic threw his life off balance. By now, he’s used to hiding his drug use. “You duck into, like, an alley, or behind a car or somewhere where no one’s going to see you,

Project Weber/RENEW will celebrate a “historic milestone in public health and harm reduction” as it cuts the country’s first state-sanctioned Overdose Prevention Center in Providence. According to a release,

On Tuesday afternoon, organizers cut the ribbon on the first state-sanctioned safe consumption site for illegal drugs in the United States. The facility—located in Providence, Rhode Island—stems from a 2021 bill creating a pilot program for overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in the state.

Providence is now home to the country’s first state-sanctioned facility for people to use illegal drugs under medical supervision. The nonprofit Project Weber/RENEW on Tuesday held a ribbon-cutting to celebrate a years-long effort to bring an overdose prevention center to the Ocean State.