Safe injecting room cuts deaths: study
Tuesday, 19 April 2011 Allan Dowd
Controversy surrounds safe injecting rooms (Source: Diana Markosian/Reuters)
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Drug use North America's only sanctioned facility for injection of illegal drugs has cut overdose deaths and should be used as a model in other cities, say Canadian researchers.
Dr Brandon Marshall and colleagues from the British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS report their study of safe injecting facilities (SIFs) online in this week's issue of The Lancet.
"SIFs should be considered where injection drug use is prevalent, particularly in areas with high densities of overdose," write the researchers.
Internationally more than 65 SIFs, where drug users can inject pre-obtained illicit drugs, have been opened as part of various strategies to reduce the harms associated with drug use.
Marshall and colleagues studied one such facility in Vancouver.
Modelled on facilities in Europe, Insite is funded by the province of British Columbia and requires an exemption from Canada's drug laws to remain open.
Heroin and cocaine addicts at the facility are given clean needles to inject themselves with their own drugs in a room supervised by a nurse. They are then allowed to stay in a "chill-out" room before returning to the streets.
The facility has cut drug overdose deaths by 35 per cent in Vancouver's downtown Eastside neighbourhood, which has one of Canada's highest drug addiction rates, according to the new study.
Overdose deaths fell elsewhere in Vancouver at the same time but by much less than in the area surrounding Insite, where most of its users live, according to the researchers.
Insite was initially allowed to open as a medical trial, as researchers said it would reduce overdose deaths, control the spread of HIV and help get addicts into treatment programs without increasing crime in the neighbourhood.
The United States has urged Canada to shut down the facility, with critics saying it promotes illegal drug use. Meanwhile, local health officials and police want to keep it open.
The new study comes as Canada's highest court prepares to hear a lawsuit over the federal government's attempt to close down the facility now that the medical trial period has ended.
Two courts have so far blocked the government's efforts, ruling Insite needs to remain open as a needed medical service. Ottawa has appealed those rulings to the Supreme Court, which is expected to hear the case in May.
A commentary in The Lancet accompanying the study's results argues the facility's success has been demonstrated and additional sites should be opened across Canada.
"Supervised injection facilities clearly have an important part to play in communities affected by injection drug use," writes Dr Chris Beyrer, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
Insite's supporters say other studies have also found that facility has been a success.
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