Cities Say the Lights Deter Drug Use. Research and Advocates Say They Stigmatize Unhoused People Instead.
As snow and ice pummel the Philadelphia suburbs, some sections of Chester and Marcus Hook are blanketed in an eerie shade of blue. The cool hue blinks like a beacon, draping Tenth Street in a strobe-like glow. But this is not a party scene, nor is it a guiding light, or even the result of inclement weather against the backdrop of chemical refineries.
As toxic smoke billows over the railroad tracks and frosty gusts of wind swirl over the train station, the people walking past look frozen, their movements appearing like disjointed flashes as bursts of blue light are interrupted by moments of darkness. The reason for this is almost as sinister as it looks.
Pennsylvania Cities Are Using Blue Lights to ‘Deter’ Homeless Drug Addicts
The practice took root in Philadelphia in 2019, when law enforcement urged residents in Kensington and nearby areas to fit their porch lights with blue lightbulbs. The Philadelphia Health Department even gave the bulbs out in complimentary toolkits and encouraged residents to display them in their homes.
The city followed suit with the peculiar practice, placing blue lights in all sorts of public spaces, from Starbucks bathrooms to local stores, from hallways to communal gathering places. Michaela Winberg, a reporter for NPR, described one Center City bathroom as looking like “the inside of a lava lamp.”
The theory is that the glow of the blue lights makes blue-tinted veins harder to see. Hence, city leaders claim drug addicted homeless people will be less likely to shoot intravenous substances in places where these eerie blue lights glow.
Research counters this completely bogus claim, and experts concur. There is nothing to prove that flashing blue lights will serve as any deterrent for drug use. Only harm reduction and housing can do that. Here’s a closer look.
Why Blue Lighting Doesn’t Prevent Drug Use, According to Experts
Philadelphia-based Crisis Director Bruce Lockett dedicated his professional career to serving vulnerable populations in both physical and mental health fields. He possesses decades of experience in substance abuse counseling and emergency services, having started as an emergency room technician at the recently shuttered Crozer Chester hospital. He explained how these experiences sometimes intersect in unexpected ways, giving him a unique window into mind, body, and soul.
One unexpected connection he found was between former drug addicts and bloodwork. He claims former addicts taught him tricks for drawing blood, things he never could have learned in medical school.
“Hardcore drug users do not need any light to find their veins,” said Lockett. “I used to be a phlebotomist, and I’ve had former drug users teach me how to draw blood better than the medical classes I was taking.”
“People who have been using intravenous drugs for a long time could find veins in complete darkness. They wouldn’t even have to have their eyes open. It could be the smallest vein in the most obscure place, and they would still find it,” he continued. “The blue lights might be a deterrent for newer drug users, but even then, it is more likely that they would harm themselves accidentally as a result of not being able to see.”
Advocates Say It’s An Act of Symbolic Violence Against Unsheltered People
Lockett explained that the blue light phenomenon died down significantly in Kensington, but now the same performative strategy is spreading to the Philly suburbs.
“It is a way to calm down homeowners who are concerned about plummeting property values and have been instilled with an unhealthy fear of homeless people, but it’s little more than a gesture,” he said.
Local advocates say the gesture isn’t just counterproductive but harmful. They see the lights as a symbol of violence, a way to tell unhoused people, “You’re unwelcome here, so move along.”
A qualitative research study conducted on the subject concluded that the lights do seem to have negative effects, increasing stigmas and drug-related harm. They do not appear to be effective as a strategy against homelessness or drug addiction, let alone the combination.
To quote the researchers who published “A qualitative study of the perceived effects of blue lights in washrooms on people who use injection drugs” on the National Library of Medicine website:
“Blue lights are unlikely to deter injection drug use in public washrooms, and may increase drug use-related harms. Despite recognizing these negative effects, people who use injection drugs may be reluctant to advocate against their use. We attempt to reconcile this apparent contradiction by interpreting blue lights as a form of symbolic violence and suggest a parallel with other emancipatory movements for inspiration in advocating against this and other oppressive interventions.”
How Policies Meant to ‘Deter’ Often Increase Harm
Whether it is harmful rhetoric spewed from political podiums or flashing blue lights on doorsteps, all forms of violence against our unhoused neighbors reflect a regression in society, a lack of regard for fellow human beings.
What we should be shedding light on is the fact that homelessness is dramatically increasing, right at a time when unsheltered individuals are being murdered at a rate 25x higher than people with stable homes. The monster isn’t in the pulsing party lights that are draping the refineries in an eerie cloud of blue haze. The monster is still in the mirror.
When will our social structures reflect compassion? When will our city leaders reclaim our streets through care? When will the light we see be at the end of this harrowing tunnel of homelessness?
What Research Says Actually Reduces Homelessness and Addiction
The silent majority of homeless people are not drug addicts. Therefore, acts of symbolic violence will never eliminate the problem of unsheltered homelessness.
Evidence shows that, of the homeless people who suffer from addiction, the most successful way to treat them is through housing and services. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Housing First models significantly reduce drug and alcohol use for homeless people.
Housing and services are always the answer. Let us shed a blue light on that.