More than half of Australians support the use of supervised injecting facilities (SIF), according to recent analysis of national health data.
SIFs are hygienic places where a person can inject drugs under medical supervision.
Medical researchers at the Burnet Institute tracked changes in attitudes towards SIFs over two decades, based on survey responses from 22,000 Australians.
Public opposition to SIFs declined by nearly 12% between 2001 and 2019.
Supervised Injecting Facilities
According to the Burnet Institute, SIFs are intended to reduce overdose deaths and “harms related to injecting drug use.”
Doctors at SIFs ask users about what drugs they’re taking and can quickly respond to an overdose if it occurs.
Facilities can also provide mental health support, addiction treatment, and blood testing services.
There are currently two supervised injecting facilities in Australia: one in Melbourne’s North Richmond, and one in Sydney’s King Cross.
The study
Every three years, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (a Government body) holds a national survey asking Australians about their use of alcohol and other drugs, and their thoughts on current drug policy.
Participants are selected to represent a wide variety of backgrounds.
The Burnet Institute’s study analysed the AIHW survey’s results around attitudes towards SIFs. Responses ranged from “strongly support” to “strongly oppose”, with the option to select “don’t know”.
Findings
From 2001 to 2019, opposition to SIFs declined by 11.7%. This was influenced by increasing numbers of respondents who said they were either ambivalent to SIFs, or “didn’t know”.
The number of respondents who said they supported SIFs increased by 3.5%.
Australians with university degrees, and those who had reported recent illicit drug use, were more likely to support these facilities.
Respondents from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and men were less likely to support SIFs.
Stigma
In a statement, the Burnet Institute said stigma was “a barrier to opening more supervised injecting facilities.”
“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,” said Burnet Institute researcher Zachary Lloyd.
Advocate
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF) has welcomed the findings, saying that “non-judgmental environments” like SIFs play an important role in preventing fatal overdoses.
“These heartbreaking deaths are mostly preventable and have a ripple effect on the community, with friends and families suffering — we can’t afford to further delay action to reduce these unacceptable numbers,” ADF Policy Manager Robert Taylor said.
