As heroin use and heroin overdose deaths increase every year in Seattle, there are new efforts to create a safe consumption site in Seattle.
Safe consumption sites are locations where people have access to sterile supplies, clean facilities, medical supervision, and addiction treatment resources. They have been shown to reduce HIV and Hep C transmission, reduce fatal overdose deaths, increase number of people seeking treatment, reduce bacterial infections, be cost effective, and reduce public disturbance.
Vancouver BC has been operating a safe consumption site called InSite since 2003 with great success, and Canada plans to expand these services across the country.
Interested in learning more?
UW will be hosting several founding members of InSite (http://supervisedinjection.vch.ca/) to speak on 3/21 from 5:30-7:30 in Turner Auditorium D209 in University of Washington Health Sciences to discuss the state of epidemic in Seattle and how we as a city can improve our response.
Panelists include:
Dr. Caleb Banta-Green (ADAI,! UW Public Health),
Liz Evans (Insite co-founder),
Mark Townsend (Insite co-founder), and
Kris Nyrop (LEAD National Support Bureau)
For more information, check out https://www.facebook.com/events/1656379684612467/
