S.F. Charities and Government Mull New Idea for Treating Drug Addicts
October 19, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
The San Francisco Department of Public Health and a coalition of area nonprofit health organizations and social-service groups met on Thursday to discuss the possibility of opening the nation’s first legal safe-injection room, where intravenous drug users could self-administer narcotics such as heroin and cocaine under the supervision of nurses, reports the Associated Press.
The only safe-injection room in North America is housed in Vancouver, where it receives an estimated 700 intravenous drug users a day, according to the news service.
At the meeting, nonprofit groups and officials acknowledged that many legal and political obstacles stood in the way of trying that approach.
Grant Colfax, director of HIV prevention for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said, however, that Thursday’s meeting was an important first step.
“Having the conversation today,” he said, “will help us figure out whether this is a way to reduce the harms and improve the health of our community.”
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