Supervised Injection Facilities

What are supervised injection facilities?

Vancouver facilityLegal supervised (or safer) injection facilities (SIFs) have been defined as protected places for the hygienic consumption of pre-obtained drugs in a nonjudgmental environment and under the supervision of trained staff.
SIFs can also be described as a controlled health care setting where drug users inject drugs under supervision and receive health care, counseling, and referral to health and social services, including drug treatment (City of Vancouver, Four Pillars Drug Strategy).
More details about supervised injection facilities

What is the Health Department’s position on this topic?

On October 18, 2007, the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Alliance for Saving Lives cosponsored a symposium exploring safer injection facilities. The Department does not currently have a position regarding the opening of a legal safer injection facility, but is interested in continuing to review evidence about these facilities and to get community input about their pros and cons.

Below are a number of presentations from the symposium. For more information about safer injection facilities or the Alliance for Saving Lives, contact the Harm Reduction Coalition at [email protected].

Safer Injection Facilities
Symposium –
October 18, 2007
Agenda and
Presentations

GUEST SPEAKER:
Thomas Kerr, PhD, University of British Columbia
Getting to the Point: The results from the three-year evaluation of Vancouver’s supervised injection facility

Panel: WHY WE NEED MORE HEALTH INTERVENTIONS FOR DRUG USERS

Moderator: Jeannie Little, LCSW,
Director of Community Programs
Tenderloin Health

SPEAKERS:

 

Panel: A SAFER SAN FRANCISCO

Moderator: Luis Barahona, Central City SRO Collaborative

SPEAKERS:

  • Dina Hilliard, Community Organizer, Safety Network Partnership
    Street Injection and Community Impact

  • Yolandra Interian, Community Member, La Voz Latina de La Ciudad Central
    Community Perspectives

  • Julian Davis, Executive Director, Tenderloin Economic Development Project
    Community Perspectives

  • Valerie Schwartz, Community Member, Mission Neighborhood
    Community Perspectives

  • Paul Boden, Coalition on Homelessness
    Community Perspectives

Panel: SAFE INJECTION FACILITIES: POLICY & PRACTICE

Moderator: Andrew Reynolds, STD & HIV Specialist, San Francisco City Clinic
Global Overview of Safe Injection Facilities

SPEAKERS:

GUEST SPEAKER:

     Scott Burris, JD, Temple University
     Where there is political will, there is a legal way

 

Panel: MOVING FORWARD

Moderator: Steven Tierney, Deputy Director,
San Francisco AIDS Foundation

SPEAKERS:

  • Barry Zevin, MD, Tom Waddell Clinic
    Opening a clinic that truly meets user needs

  • Laura Guzman, Director, Mission Neighborhood Resource Center
    Mobilizing our community

  • Barbara Garcia, Deputy Director, SF Department of Public Health
    The role of Public Health in opening a Safe Injection Facility

  • Hilary McQuie, Regional Director, Harm Reduction Coalition
    Next steps for action