Potential Benefits of Safe Injection Sites in Denver, and the Stigma Associated with Drug Use

Abstract

The search for effective treatments for drug addiction is ongoing. A relatively recent proposal suggests the implementation of “supervised” or “safe” injection sites (SISs), facilities at which people who inject drugs (PWID) could inject opioid drugs in privacy and security, with staff and medication on hand to prevent overdoses or other complications. Such sites do exist and operate today, but legal limitations have kept them from operating in urban communities, particularly in the United States. The stigma against drug users may contribute to national reluctance to implement safe injection sites. This study consisted of three parts: firstly, a literature review which examines the history of opioids in America, the possible origins of the opioid epidemic, the effectiveness of SI sites and recent attempts to introduce such sites in American cities; secondly, a questionnaire distributed to Denver residents, intended to ascertain their feelings on SI sites; and thirdly, qualitative interviews with some of the participants in the questionnaire phase, to help better clarify their positions on the subject. Overall, we tended to find that aversion to SI sites correlated with other expressions of drug stigma, likely indicating that drug stigma is a significant obstacle to the implementation of these facilities.