Safer injection rooms are legally sanctioned, supervised facilities designed to reduce the health and public order problems associated with illegal injection drug use. These facilities now operate in dozens of European cities. A pilot safe injection room is currently underway in Sydney, Australia. In Canada the government is exploring the feasibility of safe injection rooms in response to a recommendation from Health Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Safe injection rooms are typically classified as medical establishments to provide legal protection to staff and clients and allow more effective regulation of the programs.(1)

Safe injection rooms provide sterile injection equipment, information about drugs and health care, treatment referrals, and access to medical staff. Some offer counseling, hygienic and other services of use to itinerant and impoverished individuals. Most prohibit the sale or purchase of illegal drugs. Many programs require identification cards. Some restrict access to local residents and apply other admission criteria.

Evaluations of safe injection rooms generally find them successful in reducing injection-related risks and harms, including vein damage, overdose and transmission of disease. They also appear to be successful in reducing public order problems associated with illicit drug use, including improper syringe disposal and public drug use. Local resistance to the establishment of safe injection rooms often fades once community and business concerns are taken into account.

Note:

1. Körner, Harald Hans. Gutachten zur Zulässigkeit von Gesundheitsräumen für den hygienischen und streßfreien Konsum von Opiatabhängigen: Az. 406/20-9 [Testimony for the establishment of health rooms for hygenic and stress-free consumption by opiate-addicted individuals]. Frankfurt, Germany: Headquarters of the Campaign against Drug Abuse (ZfB). 1993. 21 p.