The Country ’s First Safe Injection Facility May Soon Open in Philadelphia. Here’s What You Need to Know

Last month, supervised injection facilities, also known as safe injection facilities (SIFs), were thrust back into the news when Philadelphia officials announced the city would likely become the first in the U.S. to adopt the controversial tactic for fighting opioid abuse. SIFs, which currently operate in Canada, Europe and Australia, offer drug users a place to use heroin and other narcotics under the supervision of medical professionals. (SIFs do not provide drugs, nor do their employees inject users directly.) Proponents say they can help curb overdose deaths, improve injection hygiene and expand access to addiction treatment. Adversaries, meanwhile, argue that they condone and enable illicit drug use. Here’s what you need to know about the debate around SIFs. Where are there currently SIFs? There are approximately 100 SIFs in operation today, sprinkled across countries in North America, Europe and Australia. The first in North America opened in 2003, in Vancouver. Though no authorized SIFs currently exist in the U.S., cities including Seattle, San Francisco, Denver and Ithaca, N.Y., along with Philadelphia, are seriously considering opening such facilities. There is also an unauthorized, underground SIF operating somewhere in the U.S., according to a study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. Some U.S. cities, such as Boston, also operate facilities where drug users can ride out a high under medical supervision, though they cannot actively inject ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Drugs healthytime onetime Philadelphia Source Type: news