October 22, 2007

San Francisco Leaders Debate Safe Injection Center

About 150 members of the AIDS community gathered last week in San Francisco to discuss whether or not the city should open a safe injection center for intravenous drug users (SFgate.com, 10/19).

Advocates and public-health workers say a controlled facility for drug addicts, staffed by medical workers, could help stop the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, prevent deaths from overdoses and help keep dirty needles from littering San Francisco streets. Members of the Alliance for Saving Lives are gathering signatures for a letter that they plan to send to city leaders in support of the center.

"We call on San Francisco to create a legal Safer Injection Facility staffed with trained medical professionals... Please help us make this critical program a reality,” reads the letter.

If opened, the center in San Francisco would be the second of its kind in North America. In Vancouver, the Insite safe injection center, which opened four years ago, serves 800 intravenous drug users every day. Though there was initial skepticism surrounding the site, it now has the support of the mayor, police chief and local residents.