Live Online Policy Forum # Overdose Prevention Centers: The Next Logical Step in Harm Reduction ##### Watch the Event Download: [ Video ](https://fastly-unsigned-us-east-1-prod.brightcovecdn.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6039378657001/3dc95c64-8fd2-436b-88e8-1bf8c2f1d8fc/823cab86-af37-43f7-90c2-ed2a26a45397/main.mp4) [ Audio ](https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5e2e15a046f4465f31c89d8c/1678728817036-0cb25602da1be74d1f42e6855e710d05.mp3) Join the conversation on X using [\#CatoHealth](https://x.com/hashtag/CatoHealth). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute. Date and Time March 10, 2023 12 - 1:30 PM EST Location Live Online Share This Event ##### Featuring ![Chelsea Boyd headshot](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-02/chelsea-boyd.jpeg?itok=mwSPu0wk) Chelsea Boyd Research Fellow, Integrated Harm Reduction Program at R Street Institute [ ](https://twitter.com/BeforeChelsea) ![Darwin Fisher headshot](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-02/darwin-fisher-headshot-new-Cropped.jpg?itok=_CVW47qW) Darwin Fisher Senior Program Manager, PHS Community Services Society; and Manager, Insite Overdose Prevention Center, Vancouver, BC, Canada ![Kailin See headshot](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-02/kailin-see.png?itok=lgLpxxN8) Kailin See Senior Director of Programs, OnPoint NYC; Development and Implementation Lead for New York City’s First Two Sanctioned Overdose Prevention Centers [![jeff-singer-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-05/jeff-singer-cropped.jpg?itok=G_0nEnx7)](/people/jeffrey-singer) [Jeffrey A. Singer](/people/jeffrey-singer) Senior Fellow, Cato Institute [ ](https://x.com/dr4liberty) [ ](mailto:jsinger@cato.org) As deaths from drug overdoses and drug-related diseases continue increasing, policymakers in cities across the United States have become more willing to consider implementing overdose prevention centers (OPCs) as the next step toward a more effective harm reduction strategy. For more than 30 years, OPCs have prevented overdose deaths, HIV and hepatitis, and other diseases and helped people with substance use disorder find treatment. OPCs, also known as safe consumption sites or drug consumption rooms, began in Europe in the mid-1980s. Governments and harm reduction organizations now operate OPCs in 16 developed countries, including many European countries, Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Unfortunately, a federal law that prosecutors and harm reduction opponents call the “crack house” statute makes them illegal in the United States. Yet New York City sanctions two such facilities in defiance of federal law. Joining us to discuss the worldwide experience with OPCs, and to share data and experiences at sanctioned OPCs in North America, are Chelsea Boyd, research fellow in the R Street Institute’s integrated harm reduction program; Darwin Fisher, Senior Program Manager at PHS Community Services Society in Vancouver, British Columbia, and manager of Insite, North America’s oldest sanctioned overdose prevention center; and Kailin See, Senior Director of Programs for OnPoint NYC and program and development lead for New York City’s two sanctioned overdose prevention centers, the first approved OPCs in the United States. Cato Institute senior fellow Jeffrey A. Singer will moderate the discussion. [![Briefing Paper 149 - Cover](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/promo_block/public/2023-02/briefing-paper-149-cover.png?itok=y8L0vqJ6)](https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/overdose-prevention-centers-successful-strategy-preventing-death-disease) ##### Related Study ### [Overdose Prevention Centers: A Successful Strategy for Preventing Death and Disease](https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/overdose-prevention-centers-successful-strategy-preventing-death-disease) Dr. Rahul Gupta, the White House director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, stated the Biden administration would be “prioritizing harm‐​reduction practices because these are proven, cost‐​effective and evidence‐​based methods that work to save lives.”[1](https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/overdose-prevention-centers-successful-strategy-preventing-death-disease#_ednref1) Overdose prevention centers (OPCs) are a successful harm‐​reduction strategy that has been saving lives in 16 developed countries—including the United States, where such facilities operate in defiance of the law. [Read the Study](https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/overdose-prevention-centers-successful-strategy-preventing-death-disease) ## Additional Resources - “[The Policy Landscape of Overdose Prevention Centers in the United States](https://www.rstreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/The-Policy-Landscape-of-Overdose-Prevention-Centers-in-the-United-States.pdf),” by Chelsea Boyd, R Street Policy Study - [What Are Supervised Injection Sites](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BOnPtXrgoM&ab_channel=TheCatoInstitute)? - [How Supervised Injection Works for Heroin Users](https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/how-supervised-injection-works-heroin-users) - [Safe Syringe Programs/​Safe Consumption Facilities](https://www.cato.org/multimedia/events/harm-reduction-shifting-war-drugs-war-drug-related-deaths-welcoming-remarks-panel) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).