Supervised Opioid Injection Clinics in Local Parks

Authors:

Julia Grundy, Graduate Student

Michael J. Bradley, Ph.D., Associate
Professor

Department of Recreation and Park
Administration

Eastern Kentucky University

Supervised
Opioid Injection Clinics in Local Parks

Special populations administration
officials, as well as municipal recreation management, would do well to monitor
is the use of public local parks as supervised opioid injection sites as an up
and coming trend in recreation (“The National,” n.d.). While this trend has not
yet gained traction within the United States, the stigma surrounding those individuals
suffering from substance abuse issues is changing. Society is more accepting of
them as members of society worthy of attention and help.

Internationally, 66 cities have adopted
the practice of utilizing parks as injection sites with potentially positive
results ranging from decreased crime to increased community health (Kral, 2017).
By providing a safe environment for substance abuse sufferers to inject, the
prevalence of public illicit drug use has decreased. In addition, since there
is a clean place to inject, it keeps characters off the street that are more
likely to commit crimes. As such, community safety increases (Kral, 2017).
Incidences of violence in the communities decreased and as a result, support
for the injection clinics in these areas increased (Kral, 2017). With more and
more reliable data, the local economies continued to support the clinics as
they saw dramatic increases to the quality of their surroundings (Kral, 2017).

Both personal and community health have
increased drastically. Mortality rates have decreased since users have access
to supervised care while under the influence. The number of drug related
overdoses has decreased as medically trained staff are available in the event
of an overdose. The prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis C has decreased since
injection centers provide clean needles for those injecting. Used needles left
on sidewalks or parks has decreased as centers provide proper disposal of
needles. Providing this service also creates the opportunity to educate more
individuals on treatment options. Over time, these services have been highly
supported by the community and continue to increase. (Kral, 2017)

As noted in (Kral, 2017), utilizing parks
as a location for local supervised opioid injection sites has shown positive
rewards for other international cities. Unfortunately, there are more
restrictions in the United States compared to international laws. While laws
such as the Controlled Substances Act potentially complicate starting supervised
injection clinics in the US, the need for such clinics is abundantly apparent.
As of 2014, approximately 775,000 US citizens participate in intravenous drug
use with the majority of the drug of choice being heroin and opioids. In the
United States alone over a half million people have perished from drug overdoses
since 2000. Of those who use drugs intravenously, around 45% contract either
HIV or Hepatitis C. In a study that was recently conducted, it was estimated
that a Unites States city could save approximately $3.5 billion a year by implementing/starting/introducing
a supervised injection site. The unnamed study referenced in this paper does
not specify a US city, but rather uses this figure as a benchmark to
demonstrate the usefulness of such clinics. There is clearly a need that is not
being met. Supervised injection sites bridge the gap between healthcare and the
growing opioid addiction flourishing worldwide. (Kral, 2017)

This idea has already taken hold to great
effect in one urban location in the United States. To protect the functioning
of the facility, the name has been removed from research as such clinics are
not federally legal in the United States (Kral, 2017). Even though the clinic
is not federally approved, the facility functions with the same standards utilized
by international clinics (Kral, 2017). As of the publication by Kral, the
clinic yielded extremely positive results similar to those found across the
world (2017). This creates a foundation to build on once such facilities are
legalized in the United States. Leading the way on the state level is King
County, Washington (“The National,” n.d.). They approved the use of supervised
opioid injection clinics to reduce public use of intravenous opioids (“The
National,” n.d.).

Supervised opioid injection clinics are not
currently a trend in the United States, but rather are projected to increase in
popularity throughout 2018. The state of Washington is leading the way in authorizing
the first clinics with the hope that additional states follow suit.
International data regarding this issue supports the notion that addressing
this epidemic with creative solutions, such as injection clinics, creates
positive impacts for both individuals and local communities. This trend benefits
cities and individuals alike. Special populations administrations would be wise
to advocate for the increased prevalence of supervised opioid injection clinics
in more US cities as they are found internationally.

References

Kral,
A. H., & Davidson, P. J. (2017). Addressing the Nation’s Opioid Epidemic:
Lessons from an Unsanctioned Supervised Injection Site in the U.S. American
Journal of Preventive Medicine,53(6), 919-922.
doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2017.06.010

The
National Recreation and Parks Association. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2018,
from https://www.nrpa.org/blog/top-trends-in-parks-and-recreation-for-2018/

Keywords: #therapeuticrecreation #opioid #injection #injectionclinics #specialpopulations #recreation #leisure #EasternKentuckyUniversity #EKU #HIV #HepatitisC #parks #NRPA