Safe Injection Sites are Evidence-Based and Should Trump Ideology
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/03/20
According to The Gateway, (DeCoste, 2018). Jason Kenney was condemning safe injection sites on March 2. He considered “helping addicts inject poison into their veins is not a solution to the problem of addiction (Karim, 2018).
DeCoste argues that the comments represent how Kenney lacks knowledge and potentially concern “about addiction, mental illness, and the cycle of poverty.” Safe injection sites have reduced the number of addiction-related deaths.
DeCoste sees the main disagreement with Kenney in criminality versus health, where DeCoste views this as a health issue and Kenney sees this as a criminality issue. The health perspective considers drug problems more to do with the environment.
The criminality perspective thinks the problems associated with substances come more from the person. That is, Kenney is wrong by the analysis of DeCoste to view substance abuse as a personality or moral flaw rather than an illness with associated addiction and withdrawal symptoms.
DeCoste reminds the readers that addiction requires long-term solutions with safe injection sites as part of them in contrast to the statements by Kenney. The safe injection sites provide clean needles and professional medical attention at the sites.
Two public health concerns are reduced through safe injection sites with HIV infections and overdoses rates going down. Correlation is not causation, however, since 2003, British Columbia’s HV infections went from the highest to nearly the lowest in the country.
Also, around Insite – a harm reduction facility, the number of overdoses has decreased by 35% (Picard, 2017). In short, the claims about the safe injections sites improving societal outcomes, by which I mean individual Canadian citizens across the board health outcomes, are well supported.
The larger umbrella term for the philosophy and the methodology is harm reduction. Harm reduction is a methodology in which to reduce harm, as the title implies. In fact, MacQueen reported on 40 peer reviewed research studies that supported harm reduction as a legitimate strategy to improve the health outcomes of individuals, and so families, communities, and society.
To deny this is to deny evidence, to deny this evidence is to worsen the health outcomes of those same individuals and potential others as well, this is the implication with the science when ideological and political differences are put to the side.
As DeCoste said, “On April 14, 2016, B.C. declared a Public Health Emergency — one which has little to do with criminal activity, but lots to do with the physical wellbeing of its citizens.”
References
DeCoste, K. (2018, March 19). Jason Kenney’s anti-harm reduction stance helps nobody. Retrieved from https://www.thegatewayonline.ca/2018/03/jason-kenney-anti-harm-stance/.
Karim, M. (2018, March 2). Jason Kenney criticized over safe consumption site comments. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/4059919/jason-kenney-criticized-supervised consumption-sites/.
MacQueen, K. (2015, July 20). The science is in. And Insite works.. Retrieved from http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-scientists-are-in-insite-works/.
Picard, A. (2017, March 26). Vancouver’s safe injection site cuts overdose deaths. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/vancouvers-safe-injection-site cuts-overdose-deaths/article577010/.
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