SUPERVISED DRUG INJECTION SITES?

New Research In Canada Shows They Reduce HIV, Overdose Deaths, And
Even Help Encourage Addicts Into Treatment

What should be done about the millions of people in the United States
and around the world who inject heroin and other drugs?

For 30-plus years, the U.S. has pushed a "war on drugs" that is more
accurately a war on drug users.

This war on drugs has not delivered on its promise to keep drugs off
our streets or to prevent people from using, but it has filled our
prisons beyond capacity and led to far too many cases of HIV/AIDS
related to sharing contaminated needles.

Vancouver, Canada adopted a different approach to deal with their
city's problems associated with injection drug use. In 2003, the city
established clean injection sites where users can take their drugs in
a sterile environment, and under the supervision of clinical staff.

The rationale is that as much as we don't want people shooting up
drugs, some -- often society's most marginalized -- inevitably will.

There are three likely scenarios when it comes to injection drug use:
1) public places like parks and street corners; 2) "shooting
galleries" that are often dirty, violent, controlled by drug dealers,
and conducive to the sharing of dirty needles; and 3) a safe, clean
facility under the supervision of nurses and public health officials.

Aside from making sure people are using clean needles and are not
overdosing, health professionals can use the opportunity to provide
treatment options designed to curb and eventually eliminate the use of drugs.

So what are the results of Vancouver's strategy?

A study released on Friday in the esteemed British journal,
Addiction, found that not only is the Vancouver injection site
accomplishing the goals of reducing public drug use, cutting down on
the spread of HIV/AIDS and overdose deaths, but is also a bridge
helping people get into treatment.

The study found that the city's supervised injection site increased
the rate of addicts entering detox by 30 percent.

The study confirmed that all of these concrete benefits are happening
without increasing drug use. Similar findings were reported in
studies of safer injection rooms in Germany, Switzerland and
Australia. Despite these encouraging results, the Supervised
Injection backers worry that the recently elected Conservative
leadership in Canada will terminate the successful program by year's end.

While some may hope and pray for a "drug free society," the reality
is that there will always be some who will find their way to drugs.

We need to do everything we can to make treatment available to heroin
users and everyone trying to quit drugs.

But we should also study what Vancouver and other countries are exploring.

We need to find ways to reduce the death, disease, crime and
suffering of people who are unwilling or unable to stop.