DISCS

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Harm reduction centers, also known as Supervised Injection Facilities, Supervised Consumption Sites, or Overdose Prevention Centers are spaces where people can use drugs safely with supervision by trained staff to prevent overdose and infectious disease related deaths. These sites may also offer syringe exchange programs, education on safer drug use practices, drug treatment and recovery resources. 

State legislators in Rhode Island authorized a two-year pilot program for Harm Reduction Centers in 2021, allowing for the legal implementation of a HRC in Rhode Island—the first of its kind in the US. Studies, including our own, have shown that people who use drugs in Rhode Island are willing to use these services.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the different approaches US states have used to successfully or unsuccessfully authorize similar sites.

The goals of our research are to:

• Perform a national media analysis of news media articles written about the implementation of harm reduction centers, examine arguments made for and against the sites, language and rhetoric used when discussing them, as well as whose voices were uplifted in these discussions
• To explore how different stigmas manifested in the authorization and implementation of these sites
• Compare the strategies that different states have taken to authorize and implement these sites.

Study Status

Data Collection: Complete.

Data Analysis and Publications: Complete and Published.

We will use a variety of methods including a legislative analysis, media analysis and qualitative interviews. This study will promote critical knowledge sharing between implementers and stakeholders across the US and provide initial data for future evaluation work. 

This work has been facilitated by the Providence/Boston  Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), NIH grant P30AI042853