Study: Supervised Injection Facility could save Baltimore $6 million (WMAR)
Tuesday May 30th, 2017
A new study explores the cost-benefits of supervised injection facilities. Researchers estimate that providing one safe drug site in Baltimore will save the City $6 million in medical costs and potentially prevent overdose deaths.
“Safe consumption spaces are physical environments where people bring previously purchased drugs. There's no sharing, there's nothing passed between people,” said Susan Sherman, professor of health behavior and society at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Sherman is one of the authors of the report published in the Harm Reduction Journal. The study was conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, and the University of British Columbia.
Supervised injection facilities are a controversial concept being discussed in several major U.S. cities. Tackling the opioid epidemic by providing addicts with a safe space to shoot up may seem counterintuitive, but the study uses data to show the opposite.