Study: We Need More Heroin “Injection Clinics”

A new study said cities in America and worldwide should set up so called “injection clinics” where addicts can legally inject illicit drugs.

According to a report onFoxNews.com, one such facility operates in Vancouver — the only one in North America.

Heroin and cocaine addicts can go to the Insite clinic and get free needles to inject their own drugs, in a room with a nurse present. Then they are allowed to stay in a “chill out” room before hitting the streets.

A study in the medical journal Lancet said since the clinic began operations, overdose deaths have dropped by 35% in the city’s Eastside neighborhood, which has one of Canada’s highest drug addiction rates.

That reduction in overdose deaths is far greater than in the rest of Vancouver, according to researchers from the British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, proving that the program works.

The clinic is modeled after similar facilities in Europe, and the study said the idea should spread worldwide.

The federal government in Canada wants to close the clinic against the wishes of local officials. Canada’s Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in May.

Critics say such clinics promote illegal drug use. The United States has urged Canada to shut down the facility, the Fox report said.