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Since some people seem to still be doubting the efficacy of overdose prevention sites I thought I& #39;d summarize some of the literature on them. Luckily, because Vancouver was the first OPS/SIS in NA, there& #39;s lots of data about Vancouver specifically. A short thread:
One study found a 35% reduction in fatal overdoses in the immediate vicinity of a safe injection site, versus a 9.3% reduction in the rest of the city. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673610623537">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
Another found that a safe injection site in Vancouver had a net SAVINGS of $18 million, and a gain of 1175 life years, over 10 years. https://www.cmaj.ca/content/179/11/1143.full">https://www.cmaj.ca/content/1...
A paper from SFU found that Insite (the first supervised injection facility in Vancouver) on average prevented 35 cases of HIV, and almost 3 deaths per year. These translated to upwards of $6 million in societal benefits per year. https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubccommunityandpartnerspublicati/52387/items/1.0314913">https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/co...
In Sydney, there was a 68% decrease in ambulance calls for opioid related overdoses following the opening of a safe injection site. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02837.x">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/...
Crucially for Yaletown: after the opening of Insite, there were marked decreases in the public injection drug use, number of discarded syringes, and injection related litter.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1635777/?tool=pmcentrez&report=abstract">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1635777/?tool=pmcentrez&report=abstract">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic...
In regards to crime, there was no increase in drug trafficking or assaults following the opening of Insite, and there was a decrease in vehicle break ins. https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1747-597X-1-13">https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/...
Another analysis found if Insite were closed, the annual number of HIV infections among drug users would increase from 179 to 263, resulting in a $17.6 million increase in lifetime medical costs, compared to Insite& #39;s $3 million per year operating costs. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02977.x">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/...
This is by no means exhaustive, literally dozens of articles and papers have been written on Insite alone. However the takeaway is clear: OPS save lives, and from a purely utilitarian point of view they save money and decrease crime too.
