New Bedford Mayor Against Idea of Supervised Heroin Injections

When it comes to the opioid epidemic throughout the nation, almost any suggestion to fix the problem is welcome.

This week, the mayor of Ithaca, New York, proposed opening a facility where heroin addicts could take the drug under supervision, hopefully curbing the amount of overdoses in the community.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell says he would not consider such a facility in the city. "The idea of facilitating drug use, to my mind, is not something we should be in the business of. It's one thing to get people into treatment and not charge them for a crime. It's quite another thing to actually promote the use by actually giving them space to administer heroin, giving them a needle," says Mitchell.

Mitchell says there are other ways of addressing the issue, such as educating children on the dangers of drug use, which New Bedford's school system is already doing.