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Techno_Raver
Registered: 05/05/06
Posts: 328
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San Francisco mulls safe-injection room
#7532807 - 10/18/07 07:44 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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San Francisco mulls safe-injection room
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago
SAN FRANCISCO - City health officials took steps Thursday toward opening the nation's first legal safe-injection room, where addicts could shoot up heroin, cocaine and other drugs under the supervision of nurses. ADVERTISEMENT
Hoping to reduce San Francisco's high rate of fatal drug overdoses, the public health department co-sponsored a symposium on the only such facility in North America, a 4-year-old Vancouver site where an estimated 700 intravenous users a day self-administer narcotics under the supervision of nurses.
"Having the conversation today will help us figure out whether this is a way to reduce the harms and improve the health of our community," said Grant Colfax, director of HIV prevention for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Organizers of the daylong forum, which also included a coalition of nonprofit health and social-service groups, acknowledge that it could take years to get an injection facility up and running. Along with legal hurdles at the state and federal level, such an effort would be almost sure to face political opposition.
Bertha Madras, deputy director of demand reduction for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, called San Francisco's consideration of such a facility "disconcerting" and "poor public policy."
"The underlying philosophy is, 'We accept drug addiction, we accept the state of affairs as acceptable,'" Madras said. "This is a form of giving up."
Sixty-five similar facilities exist in 27 cities in eight countries, but no other U.S. cities have considered creating one, according to Hilary McQuie, Western director for the Harm Reduction Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes alternative drug treatment methods.
"If it happens anywhere in the U.S., it will most likely start in San Francisco," McQuie said. "It really just depends on if there is a political will here. How long it takes for that political will to develop is the main factor."
Drug overdoses represented about one of every seven emergency calls handled by city paramedics between July 2006 and July 2007, according to San Francisco Fire Department Capt. Niels Tangherlini. At the same time, the number of deaths linked to overdoses has declined from a high of about 160 in 1995 to 40 in 2004, he said.
Colfax estimated that there are between 11,000 and 15,000 intravenous drug users in San Francisco, most of them homeless men. Like many large U.S. cities, the city operates a clean-needle exchange program to reduce HIV and hepatitis C infections.
Advocates plan to work on building community support for a safe-injection center, including backing from Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors.
In Switzerland, Spain and other European countries with such programs, the sites have been placed in existing public health clinics and created as stand-alone facilities, said Andrew Reynolds, a program coordinator with San Francisco's city-run sexually transmitted diseases clinic.
Possible options for opening one in the city include homeless shelters, AIDS clinics or drug treatment centers, he said.
"They aren't these hedonistic dens of iniquity," Reynolds said. "There is no buying or selling of drugs on the premises. Staff do not assist in injections."
While it's too early to tell what the room in San Francisco would look like, Vancouver's InSite program is located on the upper floor of a low-rise building in a downtown neighborhood where drug users shoot up in the open.
The site, exempt from federal drug laws so users can visit without fear of arrest, has 12 private booths where addicts inject drugs such as heroin, cocaine or crystal. They can use equipment and techniques provided by the staff, and then relax with a cup of coffee or get medical attention in the "chill out" room where they are observed, said program coordinator Sarah Evans.
"It looks kind of like a hair salon," Evans said of the bustling space. "If we were a restaurant, we would be making a profit."
While 800 overdoses have occurred on the premises, none of them resulted in death because of the medical supervision provided at InSite, said Thomas Kerr, a University of British Columbia researcher who has extensively studied the program. His research also has shown an increase in addicts seeking drug treatment and a decrease in abandoned syringes, needle-sharing, drug-related crime and other problems since the clinic opened, he said.
The results indicate the idea is worth replicating, despite the criticism it may attract, Kerr said.
"I prefer the approach of the Vancouver Police Department, which was: 'We don't like the idea of this, but let's look at the evidence and at the end of three years we will tell you either this is something we can support or it's something we can't support,'" he said.
Temple University law professor Scott Burris told the audience at Thursday's forum that a supervised injection room would seem to run afoul of federal drug possession laws and a state statute that makes it illegal to operate a crack house or any place where drugs are used, but only if the police and federal agents enforce them.
He cited as an example California's medical marijuana law, which has allowed pot dispensaries to flourish but at the risk of being raided by federal authorities.
"The law isn't a barrier," Burris said. "The issue of whether it's legal doesn't come up until somebody is arrested."
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pabloescabar
Stranger thanyou



Registered: 05/02/07
Posts: 383
Last seen: 15 years, 2 months
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: Techno_Raver]
#7533344 - 10/18/07 09:57 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I hope they get it going, just as long as the DEA stays the fuck away, they just like to kick people when they're down
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deucedbi9
Stranger

Registered: 10/24/06
Posts: 4,594
Loc: UK
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: pabloescabar]
#7534017 - 10/19/07 03:19 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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does anyone see the absurdity of a publicly funded clinics requiring addicts to bring their own drugs... while it may reduce the danger of HIV / HEP C, it does nothing to address the other health problems associated with injecting contaminated drugs,not to mention the means by which (crimes) they may resort,to obtain the monies to pay for them... it will do little or nothing to undermine the black market.
why not go the whole way and reclassify these "clinics" as, in-patient drug rehabilitation centers, where for a weekly fee (prescription charge) the "clinic" could supply pharm quality doses. maybe when a users entire daily life doesn't revolve around obtaining the money for the next fix they will have a little more energy to improve their lives.
-------------------- whether low pressure sucks or high pressure blows... it's a bugger to cycle in. even though I'm feeling good Something tells me I'd better activate my prayer capsule
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Mandark


Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 193
Loc: Poland
Last seen: 9 years, 1 month
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: deucedbi9]
#7534067 - 10/19/07 04:03 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
deucedbi9 said: why not go the whole way and reclassify these "clinics" as, in-patient drug rehabilitation centers, where for a weekly fee (prescription charge) the "clinic" could supply pharm quality doses. maybe when a users entire daily life doesn't revolve around obtaining the money for the next fix they will have a little more energy to improve their lives.
Of course it's a better idea, but you think anyone would support it? Look how much trouble they have with opening that premises without any drugs.
-------------------- "One might ask why tobacco is legal and marijuana not. A possible answer is suggested by the nature of the crop. Marijuana can be grown almost anywhere, with little difficulty. It might not be easily marketable by major corporations. Tobacco is quite another story." - Noam Chomsky
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Mandark


Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 193
Loc: Poland
Last seen: 9 years, 1 month
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: deucedbi9]
#7534071 - 10/19/07 04:11 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
deucedbi9 said: why not go the whole way and reclassify these "clinics" as, in-patient drug rehabilitation centers, where for a weekly fee (prescription charge) the "clinic" could supply pharm quality doses. maybe when a users entire daily life doesn't revolve around obtaining the money for the next fix they will have a little more energy to improve their lives.
Of course it's a better idea, but you think anyone would support it? Look how much trouble they have with opening that premises without any drugs.
-------------------- "One might ask why tobacco is legal and marijuana not. A possible answer is suggested by the nature of the crop. Marijuana can be grown almost anywhere, with little difficulty. It might not be easily marketable by major corporations. Tobacco is quite another story." - Noam Chomsky
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Crystal G



Registered: 06/05/07
Posts: 19,584
Loc: outer space
Last seen: 8 months, 5 days
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: Mandark]
#7534084 - 10/19/07 04:22 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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would this make for the first possible safe-injection room in the USA?
sounds awesome...
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Mandark


Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 193
Loc: Poland
Last seen: 9 years, 1 month
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: deucedbi9]
#7534102 - 10/19/07 04:31 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Sorry for tripple post, something's very wrong with my internet.
-------------------- "One might ask why tobacco is legal and marijuana not. A possible answer is suggested by the nature of the crop. Marijuana can be grown almost anywhere, with little difficulty. It might not be easily marketable by major corporations. Tobacco is quite another story." - Noam Chomsky
Edited by Mandark (10/19/07 05:39 AM)
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: deucedbi9]
#7534222 - 10/19/07 05:51 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
deucedbi9 said: does anyone see the absurdity of a publicly funded clinics requiring addicts to bring their own drugs... while it may reduce the danger of HIV / HEP C, it does nothing to address the other health problems associated with injecting contaminated drugs,not to mention the means by which (crimes) they may resort,to obtain the monies to pay for them... it will do little or nothing to undermine the black market.
Reducing the HIV and HEPC associated with injection drug use is no small matter. The other factor is that once you get a patient into a clinical setting, you have their attention and can expose them to a large variety of treatment options.
Studies have suggested that providing clean needles will reduce drug use on it's own.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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Crystal G



Registered: 06/05/07
Posts: 19,584
Loc: outer space
Last seen: 8 months, 5 days
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: badchad]
#7535877 - 10/19/07 03:01 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I wonder if SF's "human flesh-eating tar" outbreak a few years ago had something to do with the idea of this safe-injection room?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/1999/06/17/MN13607.DTL
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ShroomieGirl
What are these god damn animals



Registered: 05/29/07
Posts: 1,938
Last seen: 11 years, 10 months
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Re: San Francisco mulls safe-injection room [Re: pabloescabar]
#7536769 - 10/19/07 06:54 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
pabloescabar said: I hope they get it going, just as long as the DEA stays the fuck away, they just like to kick people when they're down
I was just about to say the same exact thing... as long as the gov't can leave them the fuck alone, its a great idea
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I'm ok, really.
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