'SAFE' INJECTION SITES DON'T REALLY EXIST

The Editor,

I am writing to you as someone who is committed to valuable and productive
drug education for youth requesting that you direct your reporters and other
staff to use the term "supervised injection sites" when referring to centres
offering services to improve health outcomes and reduce harm to drug users.

I have spent the last 15 years of my professional career working with
children and youth, most recently as a safe schools manager in a large
school district in B.C. I have spent a lot of time addressing the urgent
education/awareness needs of communities and one of the things that I and
other professionals are aware of is the impact of media on the perceptions
of young people regarding illicit drug use.

This is why I am deeply concerned at the repeated use of the term "safe
injection sites" by media outlets in news articles and broadcasts. There is
nothing "safe" about an injection site; illicit drug use is never safe.
Supervision by health-care providers, councillors, and others has been put
in place to improve the very negative health outcomes and to reduce harm to
drug users, specifically because of the very tragic loss of quality of life
for drug users, their families and the communities in which they live.

Your involvement in repeatedly sending this conflicted message to youth and
the general public about the safety of injection sites is frightening.
Please help us continue our fight against illicit drug use by using the
appropriate terminology when referring to supervised injection sites.

Theresa Campbell