Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
We analyze the ongoing debate surrounding supervised injection sites in Ontario, Canada and changing policies that impact host communities.
Findings/Key points
We find policy-makers tend to leverage scientific uncertainty as a tool to defend the interests of the most powerful actor in the subsystem. Despite an increase in the number of deaths due to the opioid crisis and evidence highlighting the efficacy of supervised injection sites as a harm reduction tool, various stakeholders are locked in a battle of claims and counter-claims about the appropriate policy response to opioids.
Design/methods
We describe the narratives constructed by advocacy coalitions from all three levels of government, law enforcement, health practitioners, and community groups, analyzing the supervised injection site model as a harm reduction strategy within a continually shifting socio-political landscape.
