Showing posts with label injection sites for drug addicts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label injection sites for drug addicts. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Drug Abuse Coverage Leaves Out the Science


How the media covers harm reduction.

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, a graduate of the Stanford University School of Medicine, recently wrote a piece for Futurehealth.org that zeroes in on a series of highly pertinent questions about the manner is which the America media tends to cover drug policy stories. Questions like: Why is the existence of credible scientific research rarely mentioned when drug controversies are in the headlines? Why does science not matter when it comes to the coverage of drug policy issues?

Mehl-Madrona cites the example of U.S. television coverage of Vancouver’s Insite project in Canada, which provides addicts with clean needles and a supervised injection room. Such “consumption rooms” are also available in Europe, and are being tried sporadically in the U.S. (See my earlier post on drug injection sites) Here is his reaction:

“The American TV was awash with criticisms of this policy, the primary one being that it promoted drug abuse and caused people to abuse drugs even more than they otherwise would. What amazed me was the complete lack of attention to data in the American media. Substantial research has been conducted on Insite and on harm reduction models. It is known that programs like Insite reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and of hepatitis C and reduce drug overdose. No evidence exists to support its spreading drug abuse.”

One of the primary concerns raised by the media was whether the Insite facility would encourage addiction by making injections safer and easier. Yet a reliable study in the British Medical Journal showed no substantial increase in relapse or decrease in quit rates among a group of Insite users.

Another concern was that the Insite facility would discourage drug addicts from seeking treatment. However, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006, involving more than 1,000 users of the facility, found that “individuals who used Insite at least weekly were 1.7 times more likely to enroll in a detox program than those who visited the centre less frequently,” according to Mehl-Madrona.

Moreover, the study confirmed that onsite addiction counselors were successfully increasing the number of addicts who signed up for detox. Rather than discouraging addicts from seeking treatment, the study confirmed that Insite was “facilitating entry into detoxification services among its clients.”

“I don't have an answer for why ideology trumps scientific evidence in the United States and its media” Mehl-Madrona writes. “Why are the opinions of ordinary people in cities across the United States considered more valid than three dozen rigorous scientific studies? Is this just the American way?”

Graphics Credit: http://abortmag.com

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Safe Drug Injection Sites


Will San Francisco follow Vancouver’s lead?

San Francisco is on the brink of agreeing to open what would officially be the nation’s first medically supervised injection facility for addicts--despite mixed feelings about the program in the Bay Area.

The Safer Injection Facility is likely to be located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, where drug abuse is rampant. If it moves forward, the site will be modeled after an equally controversial Canadian program, the Insite injection facility, established in Vancouver in 2003.

“None of us want to shoot out here in front of kids,” a homeless drug user told the Oakland Tribune. “If we had a place to shoot, then we’d also have a place to put our dirty needles, which is a problem out there.” However, there has been considerable community resistance to the idea, say police, with more affluent areas declaring, in essence, “not in my neighborhood.”

The Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC) maintains that the Vancouver safe injection facility has resulted in fewer fatal overdoses, lower disease rates, and more addicts in recovery. HRC defines Safe Injection Facilities as “legally protected places where drug users consume pre-obtained drugs in a non-judgmental environment and receive health care, counseling, and referrals to other health and social services, including drug treatment.

In San Francisco, an injection facility has been an idea in search of a political sponsor for some time. Moreover, advocates can expect no help whatsoever from the federal government. Last year, the Office of National Drug Control Policy said it found preliminary plans for a safe injection site “disconcerting” and called it “poor public policy." An AP/Google report from last year reported that overdoses from injected drugs represented one of every seven emergency calls handled by paramedics in San Francisco.

Last year, Sarah Evans of Vancouver’s Insite center, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “The evidence is really clear that we’re achieving our goals for the users and the community. The more you look into it, the more you realize it’s crazy not to do it.” Not all Canadian politicians agree, however, even though the majority of physicians in the Canadian Medical Association appear to support safe injection sites. Recently, as reported in the Drug War Chronicle, Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement said he would question the ethics of doctors who support the use of safe injection sites for drug addicts.

HRC’s petition for a safer injection facility in San Francisco can be found online at Democracy in Action.


Photo Credit: Inky Circus
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