The longer Seattle goes without a safe consumption site for drug users, the more people are going to use drugs in environments like this downtown alley.
The longer Seattle goes without a safe consumption site for drug users, the more people are going to use drugs in alleys like this one. Ansel Herz

A new report underlines why Seattle should pay no mind to low-information critics and move ahead with a safe consumption site that would give drug users the chance to inject heroin or smoke crack in a clean, regulated environment: No one dies in them, unlike in the city's alleyways and bathrooms—our de facto, currently existing drug consumption sites.

Here's how we summarized objections to the safe consumption site idea last month:

Do you think allowing a safe consumption site for drug users will only "enable" people who use illegal drugs? Do you, like KIRO radio host Jason Rantz, think safe consumption sites represent "coddling behavior"? Do you agree with Magnolia resident Cindy Pierce, who thinks anyone using a safe consumption site should be required to get treatment? Do you fear, as seemingly every online commenter does, that this will only increase drug use and crime?

On Monday, the Harm Reduction Coalition, which favors safe consumption sites, released a report examining the track record of supervised injection facilities (SIFs) around the world—in Germany, Australia, and Canada. Their findings are addressed to policymakers in the United States, and they answer every one of those fears cited above:

People who use SIFs take better care of themselves, reduce or eliminate their needle sharing, use their drugs more safely, and ultimately reduce their drug use;

SIF participants gain access to other medical and social services and entry into drug treatment;

There has not been a single overdose death in any of these programs over many years of operation and many thousands supervised of injections;

SIFs do not increase drug use in the area, nor do they encourage young people to initiate drug use;

Crime and public nuisance decrease in the areas around these programs.

"Despite initial controversies," said the coalition's Daniel Raymond, "supervised injection facilities have proven their value over and over again."

Patricia Sully, a local attorney and activist with VOCAL, noted that the European facilities in the report don't just allow drug users to safely inject drugs—they allow people to safely smoke as well. An injection-only facility could increase racial disparities because it wouldn't serve the needs of users who smoke crack, who are disproportionately African-American. That's why, in Seattle, VOCAL is pushing for a safe "consumption" site—not merely a supervised injection facility.

"Seattle is uniquely situated to operationalize such a model," Sully said, "and is in the enviable position of not needing to create the wheel, but rather to learn, tailor, and improve upon so much work that has already been done worldwide."

Read the entire report here.