State-funded hard drugs hit streets

A nurse at the Crosstown Clinic, a supervised injection site in Vancouver, British Columbia, hands out a syringe of medical-grade heroin to a patient. (Photos: Jackie Dives/nyt)

The place where Chris gets his fentanyl is bright and airy, all blond wood and exposed brick. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable about the potency of the pills he can crush, cook and inject.

Soft pop music played, and an attendant spritzed a bit of Covid-cautious spray on his seat before he settled into a booth on a recent afternoon with a couple of red-and-yellow pills, a tourniquet, a tiny candle and a lighter.