The case for a second safe injecting facility (SIF) in Sydney

Sydney’s Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross has been a major national and global example of successful harm reduction in relation to illicit drug use ever since it opened its doors 18 years ago. However, since then Sydney has undergone significant transformations as a city, including gentrification of the inner Sydney suburbs where the injecting centre operates and expansions to its Western and South Western suburbs where many of its injecting drug-using population reside. Furthermore, Australia is seeing growing public health concerns about steady increases in opioid overdose deaths worth comparing to the opioid crisis in the United States. Using data from the National Coronial Information System, we explore the distribution of overdose deaths across Sydney and in doing so make the case for the establishment of a second medically supervised injecting centre in Sydney’s outer suburbs.