Philadelphia becomes latest city to introduce safe injection sites to combat opioid crisis

published on January 24, 2018 by Alison Durkee , in Mic

Philadelphia took a controversial step Tuesday in combating its drug crisis, as the city announced it would establish safe injection sites where drug users can inject substances in a supervised medical facility.

The facilities would be the first official sites of their kind in the U.S., according to Philly.com. Though San Francisco, New York and other major cities have reportedly considered establishing sites — and a harm reduction group opened an unofficial secret facility in an undisclosed U.S. location in 2014 — Seattle is the only other city close to taking official action. While Seattle set aside $1.3 million in its budget to open a safe injection site, the Philadelphia proposal calls on private companies, rather than the government, to open and operate the facilities.

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Effects of safe injection sites

Though critics are quick to decry safe injection sites as potentially encouraging drug use or not combating the drug crisis, the EMCDDA noted that there is no evidence to suggest that having these facilities available increases drug use or the frequency of injecting drugs. Rather, research from existing facilities shows that drug consumption sites can have a demonstrably positive effect.

The facilities can play a key role in preventing overdose deaths. According to Philly.com, a Toronto facility saved 139 lives within a six-month span in 2017, while a study of a Vancouver facility cited by the British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS revealed it prevented as many as 12 deaths per year over four years — and that no fatal overdoses occurred at the facility. Philadelphia officials have reportedly determined the city’s proposed injection sites would save 25 to 75 lives per year.

Drug users taking advantage of safe injection facilities are also more likely to seek treatment. A study published in the journal Addiction and cited by the British Columbia Center found there was a 33% increase in the use of detox services in Vancouver in the year after the city’s safe injection facility opened (compared to the year prior). According to the study, drug users who went to the facility were 1.6 times more likely to enroll in methadone treatment and 3.7 times more likely to enroll in other forms of addiction treatment.

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Philadelphia becomes latest city to introduce safe injection sites to combat opioid crisis

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