of the programs, but they worry about community safety due to the
implementation of a program in their neighborhoods. However, the
studies showed that neither SSPs nor SIS’s increase the crime rate and
illicit drug injection behavior (CDC, 2019a; Potier et al., 2014).
Despite public support being low, the willingness to use the SIS’s
among PWID are high. According to a survey, in Boston, 91.4% of the
participants were willing to use SIS’s, especially those who had a higher
overdose risk (León, Cardoso, Mackin, Bock, & Gaeta, 2018). In San
Francisco, over 85% of PWID had the willingness to use SIS’s, and
more than 60% of the responders reported they would visit SIS’s
multiple times per week (Kral et al., 2010).
Although the implementation of SIS’s is urgent, in the vast majority
of areas of the U.S., SIS’s still face a lot of obstacles. Dr. Jessie Gaeta,
chief medical officer at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program,
asserted that prohibiting SIS’s “feels like a treatment gap” (as cited in
Shaw, 2020). Jim Kenney, current Mayor of Philadelphia, claimed that
SIS’s are an effort “to alleviate suffering and to save lives” (Hatmaker,
2020).
Conclusion
The United States is under an opioid epidemic crisis, in which
numerous PWID and their communities are exposed to high rates of
blood-borne infection and other health risks. In order to reduce the