San Francisco political leaders have been steadily coming around to the idea of opening safe injection centers where addicts could shoot drugs in a controlled situation instead of outside on the sidewalk. And now, it seems, they won't let state or federal law get in their way. 

"We've got to take chances," said Board of Supervisors President London Breed, who in April became an unexpected champion of safe injection drug sites and was behind the creation of a task force that's expected to recommend opening them.

That attitude isn't new. San Francisco has ignored state and federal law before, when it started a needle exchange program, opened medical cannabis clubs and married same-sex couples. Some politicians say it's now time to open the first-ever safe injection drug site in the United States, even if that means exposing the city to risks on multiple fronts.

The city's newly accepting stance toward injection clinics, where addicts can use drugs in a clean environment staffed by nurses on hand to prevent overdoses, signals a remarkable shift. Up until last year there was almost no appetite for such places. Though the drug use clinics have been open in Canada for more than a decade, there is not a single one in the United States.

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