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Seattle officials propose mobile safe injection site

A man prepares heroin he bought on the street to be injected at the Insite safe injection clinic Wednesday, May 11, 2011, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The facility is promoted by its founders as a safe, humane facility for drug abusers. A report released Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine revealed that a safe haven for drug users to inject themselves with heroin and other drugs has been quietly operating in the United States for the past three years. Researchers didnt disclose the location of the site. (Darryl Dyck / AP)
Associated Press

SEATTLE – Seattle officials say they are moving forward with plans for a safe drug-injection site in the city.

Meg Olberding with Seattle’s Human Services Department said in an email Thursday that the city plans to use a large mobile medical van as the site and park it in the same location each day.

KIRO-TV reports the location where the van will be parked each day has not been determined. Olberding says the city is hoping to place the van in an area where overdoses and deaths are prevalent.

Jeff Sakuma, who also works with the Human Services Department, says consumption would happen inside the vehicle.

They hope to have a waiting area and treatment available in a building next to the van.