Background:
Supervised consumption sites and overdose prevention sites (SCS/OPS) are evidence-based, life-saving services that improve health outcomes and reduce harms among people who use drugs (PWUD). These services were historically designed for people who inject unregulated drugs – however, 67% of all unregulated drug deaths in British Columbia (BC), Canada in 2024 were attributed to smoking. Our study is ideally positioned to characterize how SCS/OPS are currently meeting the needs of PWUD in this context.
Methods:
The Health Connect study launched in January 2024 at an SCS in Vancouver, BC. Clients of the SCS ages 19+ were invited to join the study, which involved completing an interviewer-administered survey. In this analysis, we characterize SCS/OPS use into three mutually exclusive categories: never vs rarely/sometimes vs often/always. Descriptive results are presented, including a comparison of key variables across SCS/OPS use and self-reported access barriers.
Results:
Among the 300 participants (39% women; 62% were 30-45 years old), a total of 298 reported their recent SCS/OPS use. Of those 298, 19% reported ‘never’ using, 45% reported rarely/sometimes using, and 35% reported often/always using SCS/OPS when using unregulated drugs. A higher proportion of those who reported often/always using SCS/OPS (vs rarely/sometimes and never) reported opioid use in the previous 3 months (94% vs 91% and 64%) and injection drug use in the previous 3 months (63% vs 42% and 21%). The most common reasons reported for not accessing SCS/OPS among all participants included: lack of smoking services (21%), preference to use alone (21%), and discomfort with other clients (17%).
Conclusion:
These findings highlighted variable SCS/OPS use among a cohort of PWUD, largely influenced by the changing patterns of substances used and mode of consumption. This analysis will yield meaningful results that can inform innovations in harm reduction service delivery to address the ongoing drug poisoning crisis. |