New research examining changes in public opinion over time reveals most Australians support supervised injecting facilities, with opposition for the facilities having steadily declined during the past 20 years.
Jurisdictional support was highest in the Australian Capital Territory, where there is no legally sanctioned safe injecting facilities, and support increased significantly between 2001-2019 in New South Wales and Queensland.
Supervised injecting facilities save lives by reducing overdose deaths and health risks related with injecting drugs. However, negative attitudes and stigma have often made it challenging to establish these services.
These facilities provide a space where individuals can inject pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of trained professionals, minimising the risk of harm.
With overdose deaths on the rise in parts of Australia, the importance of these services has never been greater.
Australia currently has two supervised injecting facilities, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney, where staff provide clean injecting equipment, harm reduction advice, referrals to treatment, health and social services and respond to overdoses.
Zachary Lloyd, Burnet research assistant and first author of ‘Attitudes towards supervised injecting facilities in Australia’, said public support for the facilities had increased since 2001.
“The rising rates of harms and deaths due to injecting drug use are a serious public health concern,” he said.
“Growing evidence from Australia, Canada and Europe has shown supervised injecting facilities help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, while also providing significant benefits to the communities where these services are located.”
Despite strong evidence showing the health benefits of these facilities, calls for additional sites have been rejected in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, citing low public support.
“Evidence shows governments are more likely to pursue policy options when they perceive public opinion as supportive and our study shows there is public support for supervised injecting facilities,” Mr Lloyd said.
Over the last 23 years the Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross has been integral in transforming the streets of the Cross. They have reversed over 11,500 overdoses, taking these life-threatening incidents off the streets and into a health care service.
MSIC’s Medical Director, Dr Marianne Jauncey, has been calling for supervised drug injection to be collocated at needle syringe services around the State.
She acknowledges that another facility like the one in Kings Cross is not necessarily what is needed in other areas.
“Overdose deaths continue to go up, every single year – why don’t we use the infrastructure that is already set up?
“Overdose deaths are occurring all around NSW. We have services that hand out clean injecting equipment, to reduce transmission of blood-borne infections like hepatitis C and HIV. But right now, if those services identify someone at imminent risk of overdose who is going to inject in a public space, they cannot prevent that from happening. They are forced to send the person away, into the shadows, for the local community to manage.
“As a medical professional, I believe we have a duty of care. If some of these existing services had the resources and capacity for a small space that could supervise drug use, and thus prevent overdose death, they should be allowed to try it out. It’s about saving lives,” Dr Jauncey said.