Considering Supervised Consumption Sites in the U.S.

• In Event: New Insights About Fentanyl Markets & Harm Reduction

Abstract

With drug overdose deaths mounting, cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco are trying to create designated spaces where people who use heroin and other drugs can have their consumption supervised by medical professionals. More than 10 countries allow supervised consumption sites, also known as “safe injection sites,” but the U.S. does not.
Largely based on a series of recently published RAND reports (Ober et al., 2018; Pardo, Caulkins, and Kilmer, 2018; Strang and Taylor, 2018), this presentation assesses the evidence on and arguments made about SCS and examines some of the issues associated with implementing them in the United States.

Authors

• Beau Kilmer, RAND Corporation

• Bryce Pardo, RAND Corporation

• Jonathan Caulkins, Carnegie Mellon University