Note
"Prepared for the Hon. Tony Clement, Minister of Health, Government of Canada."
"March 31, 2008."
Issued also in French under title: INSITE de Vancouver et autres sites d'injection supervisés : observations tirées de la recherche : rapport final du Comité consultatif d'experts sur la recherche sur les sites d'injection supervisés.
This publication may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for educational and non-commercial purposes, without permission provided the source is fully acknowledged. ©All Rights Reserved. Vancouver's INSITE service and other supervised injection sites : what has been learned from research? : final report of the Expert Advisory Committee.. Health Canada, 2008. Reproduced with permission from the Minister of Health, 2014.
Summary
INSITE was established as a pilot project in 2003, when permission was given to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCH) under section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Health Canada provided the VCH with funds to evaluate the service, and VCH contracted with the BC Centre for Excellence on HIV/AIDS to undertake the evaluation. The Centre completed parts of the original evaluation, but indicated that they required more time to complete the evaluation in a second application for another exemption. While Health Canada granted the exemption for an additional period of time, it did not provide funding for the proposed evaluation. This funding was sought and received from alternative sources.
The EAC organized the available research into tables around key questions and the stated objectives of INSITE (see appendix B). Each table contains highlights from: (i) published and unpublished research on INSITE, data on use provided by (VCH), and three pieces of additional research requested by the EAC; (ii) research on the Sydney, Australia SIS; and (iii) research on other SISs in other countries.
The research reviewed relates to the formally stated objectives of INSITE, namely to: i) increase access to health and addiction care; ii) reduce overdose fatalities; iii) reduce transmission of blood-borne viral infections and other injection related infections; and iv) improve public order.