Clark backs supervised drug injection sites

Congresswoman Katherine Clark supports the idea of opening facilities where people can use illegal drugs under medical supervision to prevent overdose fatalities and refer people to treatment for drug addiction when they are ready.

“These sites, in particular, if it is saving some lives, if it is allowing us to have the intervention to stop this cycle before a person does lose their life to an overdose, that’s a piece of this puzzle that we have to be open to and figure out,” said Clark.

Support for supervised drug injection sites has grown since US District Court Judge Gerald McHugh ruled earlier this month that a provision of the Controlled Substances Act aimed at closing crack houses did not apply to a proposed supervised injection site in Philadelphia. 

But here in Massachusetts, US Attorney Andrew Lelling has not been dissuaded by the federal court decision. He said he would use his prosecutorial powers to prevent any supervised injection sites from opening.

In  a wide-ranging interview on CommonWealth’s Codcast, Clark also talked about her work on a bill  dubbed the BE HEARD in the Workplace Act, which would take a number of different approaches to empower the victims of workplace sexual harassment and try to curb the type of predation made infamous by the torrent of #metoo stories over the past two years.

Before becoming a high-profile advocate for ending workplace harassment, Clark said she was the victim of it. While working at a restaurant in college, she said, a superior grabbed her, and she didn’t even think of trying to hold him accountable at the time.

“I never spoke a word about it,” Clark said. “Women don’t want to make waves. They want to get their job done, and they just take in the humiliation on themselves. That is the point of this bill that we see you.”

Clark rose to the sixth-highest ranking Democrat in House leadership after recruiting candidates around the country last year, but Clark doesn’t expect to endorse in the heavyweight matchup in the US Senate Democratic primary in Massachusetts.

Clark spoke highly of Sen. Ed Markey, whose old congressional seat she now holds, calling him a crucial leader on climate change, and she said Congressman Joe Kennedy, who has launched a primary challenge, is “someone I have turned to as a mentor and a trusted adviser in the House.”

Clark said the MBTA needs a “strong federal partner” to support the transit agency’s work and, although she didn’t directly say whether she agrees with Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu’s idea of totally abolishing T fares, she said, “I always think the fares should be lower.”

Clark’s comments took place shortly before news broke that President Trump had formally refused to cooperate with the US House impeachment  inquiry. The investigation is so far focused on whether Trump conditioned US military aid and other benefits to Ukraine in exchange for the political favor of an investigation into Joe Biden – one of the top Democratic candidates for president.  

 “We’re going to let the facts really judge the timing, but we understand that this threat to our national security is serious. It’s urgent,” Clark said. “We have one year until the 2020 elections, and we want to make sure that those elections are fair and free from foreign government interference.”