Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2016
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2016 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Matt Curtis
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n182/a06.html

FIGHTING THE SCOURGE OF OPIOID ABUSE

To the Editor:

Re "Town's Anti-Drug Plan: Safe Site to Use Heroin" (front page, 
March 23), about a proposal by the mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., to 
establish the first site in the United States where people could 
legally inject heroin:

Supervised injection facilities, or SIFs, are a longstanding public 
health tool in several countries and are rapidly gaining support 
elsewhere, including in the United States. Advocates like me 
understand why people have questions about something that at first 
pass looks as if it enables destructive behavior.

Most people who inject drugs cannot immediately cease drug use, and 
SIFs keep people safe while connecting them to care. Study after 
study has shown that SIFs reduce overdose deaths, H.I.V. and viral 
hepatitis transmission, and public disorder, and increase access to 
drug treatment and other health care.

SIFs also offer compassion and dignity for people who are the subject 
of society's worst scapegoating and stigmatization. It's that kind of 
support, not punishment by the criminal justice system, that 
ultimately helps people become well.

MATT CURTIS

New York

The writer is policy director at VOCAL New York, an advocacy 
organization that helps lead the campaign for SIFs in New York.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom