2018 Pilot Project: Development of a Safe Injection Facility (SIF) Evaluation Working Group

Development of a Safe Injection Facility (SIF) Evaluation Working Group
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Douglas Wiebe, PhD
CO-INVESTIGATORS: Jennifer Pinto-Martin, PhD, MPH; Heather Klusaritz, PhD, MSW; Carolyn Cannuscio, ScD, ScM; Benjamin Frank Cocchiaro, MD, MPH

In the wake of the Philadelphia government’s plan to establish Safe Injection Facilities (SIFs) throughout the city, this project is creating a multidisciplinary SIF Evaluation Group  to develop plans for a large-scale, cross-section evaluation of a SIF program. SIFs are government-sanctioned locations that provide drug users a clean, safe, non-judgemental place to use with medical oversight and some level of access to social services. The evaluation will examine a variety of outcomes related not only to overdose and mortality, but also to outcomes such as social cohesion, arrest diversion, employment and other medical, economic, and social factors.