Safe injection sites, places where users can consume drugs like heroin under supervision, could be heading to the U.S. soon. Are these sites a solution to overdose deaths or a magnet for crime?
What’s happening:Drug overdoses are a major public health crisis in the United States. More than 70,000 people in the U.S. died of drug overdoses in 2017, with most of those deaths related to opioids.
Safe injection sites exist in at least 10 countries. Canada has more than 40 locations, though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s main challenger in this month’s election has called the policy “terrible.” Opponents of the sites argue they perpetuate addiction by removing some of the challenges that might push people out of the lifestyle. They worry about an increase in crime in the areas around the sites, since users still have to purchase their own drugs. There is also skepticism about how effective the sites can be, given the limited number of people they are able to help and the massive scale of the epidemic.
The sites could protect users who may not know what they’re injecting“The number of dead is continuing to climb as people overdose on heroin laced with fentanyl. … That’s where safe injection sites would come in. At more than 90 such locations in Europe and elsewhere, if someone overdoses at one of these sites, a health worker or other first responder quickly administers an antidote.
Crime would spike in the areas around the sites“A safe injection site wouldn’t supply the drugs, and so users would still be doing whatever they have to to score a hit, including theft and prostitution for many. We doubt those living and working in the neighborhoods where safe injection sites would be located would welcome the threat to public safety.” — Editorial, Boston Herald
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