By: Shreya Sharma
A number of countries, including Canada, offer safe injection sites. These are controlled healthcare facilities where users can be supervised while injecting illegal substances that they have brought. Most facilities offer additional services such as counseling, referral to addiction and abuse treatment services, and healthcare. Safe injection sites can also be referred to as drug consumption rooms.
Unsurprisingly, the concept of these sites is very controversial, especially in the United States. The question remains whether or not creating a designated space for illegal drug use is an effective approach to combatting substance abuse and addiction. Despite mixed sentiments, abundant research has shown that many significant benefits arise from the implementation of supervised injection sites. Along with a decline in overdose-related hospitalizations and deaths, HIV and hepatitis C spread have also decreased notably. Litter such as discarded syringes, glass vials, and other drug-related paraphernalia have also made fewer appearances on the streets. Another positive benefit is the increased awareness and understanding of the causes of addiction, helping to further destigmatize the issue and improve treatment options. Users become more likely to seek out support or enter a detox program.
Now more than ever, drug addiction is gaining national recognition as a public health crisis, and acceptance of the concept of “harm reduction”. This is an approach to treatment that focuses on rehabilitation, instead of punishment. If illegal drugs can’t be removed from society entirely, the best and most logical approach is to attempt to limit the harm inflicted upon users and the community.
Beyond safe injection sites, many countries employ various other approaches to tackle illicit drug use. Needle exchange programs have been established to provide access to sterile needles and syringes while safely disposing of used ones, all at no cost to the user. Narcan, a brand name of the medication naloxone, is used to block the effects of opioids, essentially reversing an overdose. Moreover, there is no effect of Narcan on people who have no opioids in their system, preventing its misuse. Wider distribution of this medication and legal protection for users and prescribers is encouraged and implemented by public health personnel, for its proven benefits and virtually nonexistent dangers. Programs combining prescription medications such as Methadone, Naltrexone, and Buprenorphine, and behavioral therapy have also demonstrated significant success. Additionally, several social service agencies stock their bathrooms with sterile needles and syringes, naloxone, and other supplies for safe, albeit unsupervised, injection.
While many countries increase funding for supervised injection sites, public controversies maintain uncertainty in other countries, such as the United States, as to whether or not these facilities will be established. Nevertheless, rehabilitation workers and healthcare professionals continue to research and advocate for the benefits of such programs, while continuing to closely examine societal and medical benefits far into the future.
References
Gordon, E. (2018, September 07). What's The Evidence That Supervised Drug Injection
Sites Save Lives? Retrieved August 24, 2020, from
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/07/645609248/whats-the-evidence-that-supervised-drug-injection-sites-save-lives
Quinn, M. (2019, May). The Bold and Controversial Way Cities Want to Reduce Opioid
Overdoses. Retrieved August 24, 2020, from
https://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-supervised-injection-site.html
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