PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The nonprofit Safehouse will get another chance to argue that it should be permitted to open a supervised injection site in Philadelphia. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed a lower court ruling and sent the case back to federal district court.
The Third Circuit ruling is the latest in a six-year effort to provide a site where people suffering from addiction can use drugs under the supervision of medical personnel so they don’t die of an overdose.
Safehouse won the first round back in 2019, but the Third Circuit overturned the district court ruling in 2021. Safehouse went back to district court last year with a new argument — that Safehouse officials were driven by their faith to prevent overdose deaths, and that prohibiting them from opening a facility to do so violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The district court ruled Safehouse was not covered by the act because it’s not a religious organization…