Case Study: Vancouver Injection Drug User Study

At one point in time the high percentage of men and women who are drug

As the number of intravenous drug users continues to rise, so does the risk of dangerous and potentially fatal complications that are associated with illicit drug use. In this population, death rates are higher due to overdose, AIDs-related mortality, and other blood-borne viruses (Mathers et al., 2013). Mortality rates remain high even though precautions have been taken to reduce them. According to Lavender & McCarron (2013), “Mortality in injecting drug users is up to 22 times higher than for the age-adjusted population, despite increased provision of needle and syringe programs, reduced needle and syringe sharing, and higher uptake of hepatitis B vaccination” (p. 511).

Several studies have shown that injection drug users lower their risk of transmitting infectious diseases when there is a needle exchange program available. There has not been a valid study of whether or not the amounts of time needles are returned to the exchange programs are harmful to communities. The Journal of Public Health, conducted surveys, evidence from needle exchange sites, jails, and institutions that needle exchange programs are effective in reducing illnesses such as HIV and AIDS (Burt & Theide, 2016). Furthermore, Reepalu, Blome, Bjork, Widell, & Bjorkman (2012), researched the same individuals for 20 years, with no breaks. Their studies concluded that injection drug use, not only heightens the risk for HIV and AID’s, there is also an increase in Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. However, there studies showed that there is not an increase rate of cancer diagnoses due to injection drug use. In a study conducted by Bonar and Rosenberg (2014), they wanted to see if self-initiated harm strategies, such as: proper needle sterilization techniques, proper disposal of needles, and cleaning of the pre injected skin, could help improve the health of those that use drugs intravenously. Their study was conducted over an eight-month period, results showed that their

Safe injection sites are places where chronic users of drugs such as morphine, cocaine, and heroin can go to inject drugs in a safe and sanitary environment. The site itself does not supply the drugs, but offers addiction and mental health treatment, first aid in case of overdose or injury, and sanitary means to inject drugs safely. These sites apply what is known as the harm reduction model. In her

A safe injection site (SIS) has been placed in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside where drug use is a challenging problem. The program is a vital piece of the cities known harm reduction approach to its serious problems with homelessness, drugs, crime and AIDS. Canada has drastically shifted its method. Going from punishing drug users to establishing the plan of harm reduction. Since 2003 when the supervised SIS opened, it has presented a safe health-focused center where drug users have access to inject illegal drugs using sterile equipment in a clean environment under the supervision of medically trained professionals. Although there are some serious concerns about the

Drug abuse has always been a delicate subject as it deals with the health, safety, and the well-being of not only the users, but also everyone they come into contact with. Cities across Canada are faced with a rising number of drug abusers, and therefore increased cases of infectious diseases and overdoses by these users. Vancouver housed the first injection site in Canada; its purpose to offer sterile syringes as well as other equipment to addicts, medical care in the event of an overdose or other emergency, as well as counseling and referrals to drug rehabilitation programs. This was a great step towards ensuring the safety and security of the public; drug users are given access to safe, one-use syringes and are provided with clean environment,

Medical problems are recognized as issues with health, dental, psychological, injury, and other ailments of the human body. Inmate access to adequate medical care is sometimes unavailable and because of this, chronic and viral illnesses run rampant within the U.S. prison system. Based on a survey of inmates during 2004, a variety of information has been made available regarding inmate medical and health issues which can be used to make inferences and develop solutions to the prison healthcare system in the United States.

There are many ways in which people who are addicted to intravenous drugs are perceived by our society. People sometimes believe the addicted person is to blame for their circumstance and substance dependence and some feel serious drug addicts are a “lost cause” due to a lack of values or flawed character. “Persons who struggle with addictions often are depicted as criminals or prostitutes, weak, lazy and morally corrupt” (Bartlett, R., Brown, L., Shattell, M., Wright, T., Lewallen, L. (2013). These stereotypes paint people with addiction negatively; a percentage of people who live with serious addiction are capable of recovery with the right attitude, support and healthcare. Street level healthcare services such as; safe injection sites, provide accessable resources at street level for people to make the choice to live healthier lifestyles. Govement funding and support is needed to make these projects possible to improve the health of Canadians. Safe injection sites are proven to be positive contributions to communities, save lives, reduce harm and open doors towards recovery for people from the grip of addiction.

This literature review will focus mainly on the drug use of heroin, the scary numbers behind the drug and the sudden rise of overdosing on the drug across the United States. Issues that will be discussed are what is Heroin, what’s in Heroin that makes it addicting, how it can increase the users risk of contracting other life threatening diseases and where it’s use and abuse are most popular across the United states and we will take a look at multiple studies that show examples of our new drug problem in the United States. While we looked at how homicide rates have dropped while in class, the flip side to that is that the amount of drug usage has risen.

Harm reduction can be defined as an approach that aims to reduce the consequences of high risk behaviours such as injection drug use on the individual and on society as a whole. Harm reduction programs provide injection drug users with access to a clean injection environment, sterile injections, drug-preparation equipment and safe disposal of contaminated material at the time of injection. Staff members in harm reduction facilities provide health teaching, anonymous HIV testing, information on addiction treatment, condoms and assist in connecting clients to social and health services (Semaan et al., 2011; Ball, 2007). Although, the benefits of harm reduction are evident through reduction of accidental drug overdose and prevention of

study on 548 men at Durham prison in Elvet, England. All of these men were

Audience Relevence: It is important to be aware of how our countries correctional system is run and why it is not very efficent. We are the future of this country and if we are informed on what needs to be fixed we can ensure that our generation does a better job.

The topic that I chose to research for my proposal is health care in the prison system. This is something that can vary drastically depending different details such as the specific prison, the management of the prison, as well as the needs of the inmates that could change for various reasons. It is generally believed that the health care that is available to inmates in both emergency situations as well as day-to-day medical needs is lacking compared to the health care that is available to the general public. The reasoning behind the quality of health care in the prison system can also be attributed to many different aspects such as an increase in inmates within the prison system, an increase in privately operated prisons that seek to make a profit, and the population of the prison system changing. There is now an increase in the elderly being incarcerated due to there being longer sentences which leads to there being an increase in age related health concerns that need to be taken care of within this growing population.

Although the usage of these harsh narcotics are illegal now as they were then, having a secure place to carry out these activities reduce multiple negative outcomes. There were several specific events during the 1990’s, mentioned by Boyd (2013: 235), that caused the city of Vancouver to realize that the public health of this area was at risk. For instance, he refers to the “more potent and less expensive” injectable substances that became obtainable, which resulted in approximately 300 deaths per year in relation to heroin. This caused a number of drug users and supporters to open a safe injection location, called the ‘Back Alley Site’, which was terminated by the police in 1994 (Boyd, 2013: 235). In 1995, crack cocaine became available to this area in which Boyd (2013: 235) described to be “cheap, addictive and highly destructive”, being a vast concern for the mentally ill. So, would this have even been an issue if the Back Alley Site were to remain open, without the interference of the law? Then in 1997, there was a high occurrence of the HIV infection among injection drug users who shared needles; it was argued that the infection was more common with those who regularly visited needle exchange programs, which was only due to the fact that these addicts were “higher risk drug users” (Wood, Tyndall, Spittal, Li, Hogg,

This case study is based on results obtained from the public injecting site in the urban location of Sydney’s Kings Cross between 1998 and 2010. In exposing and analysing the history behind the initiative of the NSW Governments harm minimisation program of ‘Medically Supervised Injecting Centres’ (MSIC). This paper offers a snapshot into the public policy and responses associated with public injecting and metanarrative directions of the program management and evaluation methods that were applied to how this program unfolded.