Insite - Supervised Injection Site

A health-focused place for people to connect with health care services

Since opening its doors in 2003, Insite has been a safe, health-focused place where people inject drugs and connect to health care services – from primary care to treat disease and infection, to addiction counselling and treatment, to housing and community supports.
Insite is North America’s first legal supervised injection site. The BC Ministry of Health Services provides operational funding for Insite through Vancouver Coastal Health, which operates the facility in conjunction with PHS Community Services Society.
Insite operates on a harm-reduction model, which means it strives to decrease the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use without requiring abstinence from drug use.
I have to say I was quite critical of my own first reaction to this site. I found myself questioning everything going on in my head as Tim showed me the facility. However, I could see that this is certainly a safe way for addicts to deal with theire addiction. They are monitored constantly by Nurses and this stops the risk of overdose. When put in context with the are it is situated and the amount of addicts I could see that this is a much needed facility for those caught within their addiction.
It is heavily regulated and the dedication of the staff working their again has to be recognised. The political climate will change and I would wonder if a less liberal goverment was in power would it survive. However, it has to be seen as a way of helping those who have fallen into addiction and it certainly saves lives by assisting them to cope with desease and overdose.