Harm reduction programs, including safer consumption sites (SCS) like Vancouver’s Insite program, are proven to save lives. A Victoria-based coalition is working to build community support for a SCS in their city.
In the last 20 years, supervised injection services (SIS), also called safer consumption services (SCS), have been integrated into drug treatment and harm reduction programs in Western Europe, Australia, and Canada.
The focus of these services is to enable people to safely consume pre-obtained drugs with sterile equipment. These services can be offered using a number of models including under the supervision of health professionals or as autonomous services operated by groups of people who use drugs.
These services grew out of the recognition that low-threshold, easily accessible programs to reduce the incidence of blood-borne pathogens were effective and cost-effective. [source: Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, opens to PDF]
Insite: North America’s first legally supervised injection site
Vancouver’s Insite facility (image, top of post) is North America’s first legal supervised injection site. Vancouver Coastal Health operates, and provides all the funding, senior administrative and health care workers for the facility.
InSite has 12 injection booths where clients inject pre-obtained illicit drugs under the supervision of nurses and health care staff. InSite also supplies clean injection equipment such as syringes, cookers, filters, water and tourniquets. If an overdose occurs, the team, led by a nurse, are available to intervene immediately.
InSite was not designed to be a stand-alone facility. It’s part of a continuum of care for people with addiction, mental illness and HIV/AIDS. It was designed to be accessible to injection drug users who are not well connected to health care services.
For people with chronic drug addiction, InSite is the first rung on the ladder from chronic drug addiction to possible recovery; from being ill to becoming well.
Victoria group works to build community support
A Victoria-based coalition is working to build community support for a safer consumption site (SCS) in their city. The yes2scs campaign is comprised of health care professionals, researchers, community activists, social workers, and individuals committed to social justice and public health who “believe that access to safe and dignified health care is a right for ALL people regardless of financial, housing or health status.”
In April 2015 the Victoria city council included steps towards SCS in its strategic plan for the next 3 years.The yes2scs campaign will work with the city to help implement the plan. yes2scs will hold a public forum on Wednesday June 17, 2015 called “Moving Forward”. There appears to be broad support building toward the implementation of safer consumption services in Victoria, though a business leader (see below) has doubts.
“The city’s role is the commitment to bring these people to the table and map out how we proceed. That commitment has been made in the strategic plan. The next steps are to bring the folks to the table.” — City of Victoria Councillor Marianne Alto
“Island Health has long recognized in our long-term mental health and substance use plan that supervised consumption sites could play a role in harm reduction.” — Suzanne Germain, Island Health
“We’re interested in anything that has to do with harm reduction. We’re absolutely open to the idea. Our only caveat is that anytime there is a safe consumption site, that there is treatment as part of the solution.” — Chief Constable Frank Elsner, Victoria Police Department
“The discussion about a safe drug-consumption site downtown is not helpful.” — Fran Hobbis, chair of the Downtown Victoria Business Association
We speak with Heather Hobbs, harm reduction services coordinator at AIDS Vancouver Island.
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audio | @Yes2SCS and supervised consumption services in Victoria @HGHobbs @AIDSVanIsle #yyj http://t.co/B5mufZKpNk pic.twitter.com/2rDOZBDOFY
— People First Radio (@peoplefirstrad) May 29, 2015
