Supervised Consumption Services
(statistics from February 28, 2018 – August 31, 2020)
Supervised consumption services are one component of harm reduction. They provide a hygienic environment for people to consume pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of a nurse
SUPERVISED CONSUMPTION SERVICES AT ARCHES INCLUDE:
- A medically supervised consumption room with thirteen injection booths and two supervised inhalation rooms
- A monitoring space – after consumption, individuals are monitored for negative reactions to their drugs
- Nursing staff that can respond to overdoses
- Immediate access to counselling services
- Referrals to drug treatment, detox, housing, income support, and other services
Access to medically supervised consumption services saves lives and enhances community safety
BENEFITS OF SUPERVISED CONSUMPTION SERVICES:
Medically supervised consumption services provide an entry-point to wrap around social supports, primary health care, and treatment.
Further, medically supervised consumption services reduce many of the risks and health care costs of unsafe drug use. The use of drugs in public places is associated with a major increase in all the known risks of drug use:
- Overdose
- Transmission of Hepatitis C and HIV
- Bacterial infections of the skin, blood stream, heart valves, and joints.
Sterile, safe places to consume drugs dramatically reduce these risks and provide opportunities to engage with people who use drugs.
Evidence from research tells us supervised consumption services lead to:
- Fewer deaths from overdose¹
- Increased uptake into primary care and treatment²
- Increased community safety – Supervised consumption services result in a decrease in public injecting or publicly discarded injecting equipment³
- Decreased neighborhood crime – Studies show that incidences such as thefts and vehicle break-ins tend to go down after supervised injection services are established⁴
THE NEED:
In spring 2017 people in Lethbridge were surveyed about their experiences over the previous six months.
We found:
67% had injected in public
47% had witnessed needle sharing among their peers
24% had experienced one or more non-fatal overdoses
23% had unsafely disposed of syringes
25% had difficulty getting sterile syringes when needed – 50% cited operating hours as the main access barrier
72% typically use drugs three or more times per day
82% of those who inject drugs were willing to attend supervised injection services.
FINANCIAL COSTS OF THE STATUS QUO ON OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM SPENDING IN 2016:
Lifetime Hepatitis C Treatment: $64,694/ person
Lifetime Economic Loss of HIV: $1,300,000/ person
- Healthcare: $250,000/ person
- Labor Productivity: $670,000/ person
- Quality of Life: $380,000/ person
Emergency Department Visits: $200/ visit
South zone in Alberta has the highest number of ER visits for opiate poisoning by more than 24%
Serious skin, soft tissue, joint, bloodstream, and heart valve infections: $48,950 + physician costs
MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT SUPERVISED CONSUMPTION
References:
¹Marshall, Brandon DL, Michael Jay Milloy, Evan Wood, Julio SG Montaner, and Thomas Kerr. “Reduction in overdose mortality after the opening of North America’s first medically supervised safer injecting facility: a retrospective population-based study.” The Lancet 377, no. 9775 (2011): 1429-1437. Available From: https://www.aidshilfe.de/sites/default/files/documents/Reduction%20in%20overdose%20mortality%20in%20DCR%20Vancouver.pdf
² Wood, Evan, Mark W. Tyndall, Ruth Zhang, Julio SG Montaner, and Thomas Kerr. “Rate of detoxification service use and its impact among a cohort of supervised injecting facility users.” Addiction 102, no. 6 (2007): 916-919. Available From: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.141.7689&rep=rep1&type=pdf
³Wood, Evan, Thomas Kerr, Will Small, Kathy Li, David C. Marsh, Julio SG Montaner, and Mark W. Tyndall. “Changes in public order after the opening of a medically supervised safer injecting facility for illicit injection drug users.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 171, no. 7 (2004): 731-734. Available From: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC517857/
⁴Wood, Evan, Mark W. Tyndall, Calvin Lai, Julio SG Montaner, and Thomas Kerr. “Impact of a medically supervised safer injecting facility on drug dealing and other drug-related crime.” Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 1, no. 1 (2006): 13. Available from: https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1747-597X-1-13
Economic Cost of HIV see: http://www.cdnaids.ca/wp-content/uploads/Economic-Cost-of-HIV-AIDS-in-Canada.pdf
Economic Cost of Hepatitis C see: Myers, Robert P., Mel Krajden, Marc Bilodeau, Kelly Kaita, Paul Marotta, Kevork Peltekian, Alnoor Ramji, Chris Estes, Homie Razavi, and Morris Sherman. “Burden of disease and cost of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 28, no. 5 (2014): 243-250. Available From: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/cjgh/2014/317623/abs/