A new study co-authored by Johns Hopkins public health researchers suggests installing one 13-booth safe injection facility for Baltimore’s drug users could save millions of dollars.
Installing such a location, called a “safe injection facility,” in the city could cost approximately $1.8 milion per year, but would generate a projected $7.8 million in savings from expenses on overdose deaths, treatment costs for HIV, Hepatitis C and other infections and costs associated with ER visits and ambulance calls, to name just a few areas.
Susan Sherman, a professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, conducted the cost-benefit analysis study with three colleagues from the Bloomberg School and researchers from the University of British Columbia, the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP). (The latter two are national nonprofits advocating for drug policy reform shifting away from War on Drugs-style policing.)
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