Dalgarno Institute Website - Healthcare utilization and mortality after overdose prevention site closure: A linked cohort analysis using segmented difference-in-differences time series (Canada)

Drug Injecting Rooms – not a stand-alone solution.
Overall, we believe that harm reduction should only be used as part of the continuum of care rather than as a stand-alone solution. The experience of MSIRs in Australia and North America demonstrates that offering a location for people to safely inject drugs without having it actively linked to a referral system leads to even more dangerous situations, such as a high risk of overdose, higher drug use, and increased profit for drug dealers. Based on the research, we can only conclude that providing a safe location to inject drugs is not the ultimate solution. It is contradictory to offer access to drugs to only then have to intervene with naloxone to reverse overdose. The report clearly shows that MSIRs have become an environment in which drug users feel they are able to “safely” experiment with different types of drugs, leading to exponentially higher.
Regina Mattsson Secretary General World Federation Against Drugs(WFAD) made to the President of the International Narcotics Control Board 2021

Useful Documents

Vic-NSW Drug Injecting Rooms – definitively enriching the drug trade, failure to meet objectives
Drug Use, Stigma, and the Proactive Contagions to Reduce Both
Bioethics Research Notes MSIC 2011
DFA Injecting Room Detailed Research
Exposing Serious Errors In Vancouver Injecting Room - Study Jan 2012
Good Samaratin & Injecting Rooms A Response To Anex Bulletin Vol 10 Ed 3
Injection Rooms In Prisons Van Gron 2013
Lancet 2011 Insite Analysis
Legal Injecting Places - a Pharmicist's view
Summary of D F A's Analysis of the MSIC

Details: 16 March 2026; 178

Background and aims

Evidence regarding the impacts of supervised drug consumption services (SDC) remains mixed, and few evaluations have used individual-level, linkable health data to examine service withdrawal. In September 2024, the Red Deer overdose prevention site (OPS) in Alberta, Canada, was scheduled for closure, with operations ceasing on 31 March 2025. This study examined: (1) changes in weekly opioid agonist therapy (OAT) dispensing among identifiable OPS clients associated with the closure announcement and subsequent service cessation; and (2) changes in acute healthcare utilization and mortality.

Plain Language Summary

The study found that closing a consumption site did not result in increased mortality or emergency service use for site users (compared to site users for a site that did not close). Instead, more people were connected to life‑saving addiction treatment medication at the time of announcement of closure and after the site closed. These findings support the importance of a well‑informed, compassionate approach while challenging claims that such sites reduce deaths or serve as pathways to treatment. This landmark paper uses a linked cohort design to provides a data‑driven counterpoint to earlier opinion‑based and non‑comparative research.

For complete research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.70380