Abstract
Research on drug harm reduction services has found these operate as a safe haven from health harm. Less is known about the wider sense of security experienced by clients of such services as a counterbalance to social marginality in their daily lives. As part of a larger study of the experience of violence among Australian men, the authors completed 20 qualitative semi-structured interviews with male clients of Sydney’s Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in 2016–2020. These were conducted anonymously in a private clinical room inside the MSIC and focused on aspects of drug use and general life experiences of violence, law enforcement, safety and security. Interviews were analysed by thematic content through a combination of preliminary and second close readings. Our analysis found that the MSIC consistently acted as a reprieve from harassment and violence from police and members of the public, conflict in drug deals, and general social exclusion.
Highlights
Harm reduction services have long been concerned with making drug use safer
There is much public health literature focused on how needle and syringe programs, overdose prevention and safe injecting facilities (SIF) in North America and Eastern Europe protect against the transmission of bloodborne viruses, such as HIV and Hepatitis C (Cooper et al 2005; McLean 2012; Sarang et al 2010; Sherman et al 2009; Sarang et al 2008; Sherman et al 2008) and act to reduce overdose (Kerr et al 2007)
The interview material was collected as part of a broader qualitative study on young men’s experiences of violence in everyday life (Tomsen and Gadd 2019), of which a final interview component was conducted at the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC)
Summary
Harm reduction services have long been concerned with making drug use safer. there is much public health literature focused on how needle and syringe programs, overdose prevention and safe injecting facilities (SIF) in North America and Eastern Europe protect against the transmission of bloodborne viruses, such as HIV and Hepatitis C (Cooper et al 2005; McLean 2012; Sarang et al 2010; Sherman et al 2009; Sarang et al 2008; Sherman et al 2008) and act to reduce overdose (Kerr et al 2007). Beyond public health measures like overdose prevention and the transmission of blood-borne viruses, qualitative research from North America has signalled how supervised consumption sites cater to some broader understanding of safety, including a sense of social connection, links with social services and protection from violence in drug markets (Kerman et al 2020). Even in the context of unsanctioned overdose prevention sites in North America, which provide supervised injecting services, it was found that clients felt a strong sense of community belonging that juxtaposed against the significant stigma they are otherwise subject to (Foreman-Mackey et al 2019; Bardwell et al 2018). Public health and qualitative research provide a strong empirical foundation for the sense of safety experienced by clients of North American supervised injecting services
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