Calling Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s ideas “goofy,” state Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill-Carbon, says he will back a bill to cut off every penny of state funding to the City of Brotherly Love if it goes through with its drug-injection site plans.

Speaking last week on conservative talk show host Dom Giordano’s show on The Big Talker radio program in Philadelphia, Knowles said city leaders should be focusing on the high rate of poverty in the city, not on trying to encourage addicts to get even more drugs with what Knowles calls “illegal injection sites.”

Knowles also criticized Philadelphia’s being a sanctuary city — “providing benefits for illegal aliens.” Calling the situation “insane,” Knowles said it is “goofy having a mayor celebrating his basically breaking the law.

Giordano commended Knowles, saying that he was “one of the few guys” to speak out. Knowles said he is trying to line up support for a bill he plans to introduce toward the end of this session of the House of Representatives, then introduce it again when the next session starts in December.

Knowles isn’t the only one who doesn’t like the Philly idea. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said if the city goes through with its plan, federal authorities would take immediate legal action.

City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said Rosenstein’s threat will not prevent officials from looking into the program, which he likened to the syringe exchange programs that many cities use to prevent addicts from using dirty needles.

Kenney said some bold thinking is needed to deal with the overdose crisis in Philadelphia, which has the highest overdose rate of any major city in the U.S. An estimated 1,200 died from drug overdoses last year, four times the city’s murder rate.

Knowles said he cannot understand the rationale for the plan in Philadelphia. Saying he considers himself a “common-sense guy,” Knowles wondered how “some of these people who consider themselves intelligent, with all those degrees, how does their intelligence overtake common sense?” Knowles said he can’t believe that they think that this will help solve the drug epidemic.

“Do they do this nonsensical, silly stuff to take the emphasis off their high rate of poverty?” Knowles wondered.

He agrees with a number of people with whom he has discussed this issue that the Philadelphia approach can actually promote drug use. “I just can’t get over how (Philadelphia officials) think they can just thumb their noses at the taxpayers of Pennsylvania, and they can do what they want to do and the hell with the law,” Knowles said.

Knowles agrees with other legislators that tackling the drug problem in Pennsylvania is one of the few issues on which Democrats and Republicans agree, but to expect the legislature to take such a drastic step as to cut off Philadelphia funding is unrealistic, according to some legislators with whom I spoke. Even with Republicans having control of both houses of the Legislature, most observers told me that they thought such a bill would have little chance of passage.

Knowles believes in education and other drug-prevention measures to tame the opioid epidemic going on in Pennsylvania and many other parts of the country, but he believes voters should contact their legislators to support his bill by urging them to use a common-sense approach to this major issue.

Giordano likened what is going on as a “game of chicken” between supporters and opponents of the Philadelphia initiative.

“And I hope there are enough Jerry Knowleses out there this time who will say, ‘That’s it; it’s over; the gravy train’s over; you’re no longer going to get this money.’ ”

It is important to know that the Philadelphia proposal is in the early-talking stages, and officials speculate that even if everything fell into place quickly it would be close to a year before such a site would be in operation.

In reacting to Knowles’ comments, Mike Dunn, senior deputy communications director for the city, said, “The evidence speaks for itself — overdose prevention sites can save lives and reduce neighborhood disorder. We cannot let more Philadelphians die preventable deaths. History has proven that the way governments handled previous drug epidemics was wrong, and to repeat it will result in the same disasters. Just as local governments had to lead during the HIV epidemic, cities like ours will be in the forefront of saving lives in the opioid crisis. We invite Rep. Knowles and all our partners in the Legislature to come to Philadelphia and witness the severity of the crisis firsthand, and to be our partners in positively addressing this epidemic.”

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com