Meeting Drug Users Where They ’ re At: US Safe Injection Sites Coming Soon

Amid piles of evidence that the “War On Drugs” approach did little to address Substance Use Disorder (SUD), Americans are beginning to signal that they’re ready to try something different. This month, that signal for something different came in loud and clear from New York City, where Mayor Bill de Blasio championed a plan to open the nation’s first legal safe injection site for intravenous drug users (Neuman, 2018). While de Blasio’s endorsement made a splash in the new cycle, his city is not the only one to seriously consider the approach. Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver and Ithaca, New York are also making moves towards opening safe injection sites (Lopez, 2018). What Are Safe Injection Sites, Exactly? Safe injection sites, also known as supervised injection sites, are legal facilities where users can go to get clean needles, receive health information, access social workers, get connected with treatment, get substances screened for life-threatening impurities like fentanyl and — yes — inject drugs. Safe injection sites are staffed by qualified professionals trained in how to counsel users interested in seeking treatment. Staff also administer opioid antagonists like Naloxone to stop users from overdosing. The sites are based in the harm reduction approach to addressing public health crises (Drug Policy Alliance, n.d.). Safe injection sites currently operate in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Canada and Australia. As of 2009, th...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Addiction Alcoholism Mental Health and Wellness Policy and Advocacy Recovery Research Substance Abuse Treatment Disease Model Drug Abuse Harm Reduction Heroin Addiction intravenous drug abuse Mayor Bill de Blasio Naloxone nee Source Type: blogs