Safe injection sites: Study on overdoses, costs backed by US
The researchers will study whether the sites prevent overdoses and estimate their costs.
WASHINGTON — For the first time, the U.S. government will pay for a major study measuring whether overdoses can be prevented with so-called safe injection sites, places where people we can use heroin and other illegal drugs and be revived if they take too much.
This grant provides more than $5 million over four years for New York University and Brown University to study two sites in New York City and one opening next year in Providence, Rhode Island.
The researchers hope to engage 1,000 adults who use drugs to study the impact of locations on overdoses, to estimate their costs, and to assess potential savings for drug use. health care and criminal justice systems.
The university announced the grant on Monday. The university said the money would not be used to operate the websites.
With American drugs Overdose deaths up to nearly 107,000 VND By 2021, advocates say safe injection sites, also known as overdose prevention centers, can save lives and connect people to addiction treatment, mental health services, and more. spirituality and medical care.
Opponents worry the sites encourage drug use and that they will lead to the deterioration of surrounding neighborhoods.
“There is a lot of discussion about overdose prevention centers, but ultimately, we need data to see if they are active and their impact on the community,” said Dr. Nora Volkow , director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, awarded the grant.
Sites operating in 14 countriesincluding Canada, Australia and France, according to the Drug Policy Coalition, a group that works for policies on de-criminization and safe use of drugs.
In the United States, New York City opened its first accredited safe injection site in 2021, and Rhode Island became the first state to allow them that year.
Statuses including Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico have considered allowing them. the governors of california And Vermont state vetoed the safe injection site bills last year and the Pennsylvania Senate last week voted for a ban on them.
The grant marks another move by the Biden administration toward what is known as harm reduction, a strategy focused on preventing death and illness among drug users while helping them care instead of punishment.
The White House drug control strategy was the first to emphasize harm reduction, and The Ministry of Justice has signaled it will allow safe injection sites.
In December, the National Institutes of Health established a harm reduction research network to study programs that provide services and supplies such as naloxone, a drug that can reverse overdose, and materials to Drug trials for fentanyl, a powerful opiate, have led to a record high number of overdoses. New research will be part of that project.
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