Abstract

With the drastic increase in opioid use in the United States and the subsequent increase in clients with addiction, it poses the question: “What is this community going to do about it?” There is evidence-based researched published over the last several years to answer that very question. A Safe Injection Space (SIS) is a legally sanctioned facilities that allow individuals to consume their illegal drugs under the supervision of trained staff in the hopes of improving health outcomes a person who inject drugs (PWID) and for the community. These facilities typically provide sterile equipment, information about drugs, resources for finding rehabilitation treatment, counseling, and access to medical staff. Currently functioning SISs in Canada, Europe, and Australia have proven their benefits by reducing overdose related deaths, lowering the rate of HIV and AIDS, creating a safe environment for a PWID, protecting the community, finding and maintaining rehabilitation treatment for a PWID, and lessening the stigma around opioid addition. SISs have proven benefits to help a PWID and the surrounding community. An integrated review of literature was conducted in order to educate the general public about the benefits of SISs, address their common misconceptions, explain myths, and illustrate their proven benefit as a risk reduction strategy for victims of the opioid epidemic. Since the first sign of the opioid epidemic in our country, more than 630,000 people have lost their lives due to a drug overdose. Among those overdose deaths, over half of them were due to opioids. Opioids also create health hazards to the community such as the spread of communicable disease and possible exposure to used drug paraphernalia.