Supervised injection services: what has been demonstrated? A systematic literature review

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Addiction Medicine
• Harm Reduction

Background:

• Supervised injection services (SISs) aim to improve safety and health for people who inject drugs (PWID).
• Concerns exist that SISs might increase drug use and trafficking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review evidence on the benefits and harms of SISs.
• To synthesize current research on SIS outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review using PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect.
• Keyword search strategy focused on supervised/safer injection facilities/sites.

Main Results:

• SISs attract marginalized PWID and promote safer injection practices.
• SISs enhance healthcare access and reduce overdose frequency.
• No evidence found that SISs increase drug injecting, trafficking, or crime; public drug use and discarded syringes decreased.

Conclusions:

• SISs successfully meet their objectives without increasing drug use or trafficking.
• Most research is from Canada/Australia, while most SISs are in Europe.
• Evidence supports implementing new SISs in areas with high injection drug use and related harms.