We know clearly from research that safe injection sites save lives. People can overdose there and be resuscitated. They can also receive health care at a certain level there and possibly, when they're ready, get some help in trajecting out of drug use life.
However, other people, because they're so damaged, actually require something like drug court for them to get a time out to rebuild their health and to engage in some low-level treatment instead of ongoing drug use. That's particularly the case for and will benefit people with HIV, hep C and other chronic illnesses that can't be managed just by provision of the drug of choice. They actually need to be kind of removed from the setting.
The experience of the individuals I see is complicated. We definitely need to offer all sorts of options for people, but they have to be connected to a benefit in their health needs as well—not just their addiction. Their addiction prevents them from actually living in a more healthy way. How do we connect the treatment of them as an addict or provision of substances with something more, which is robust?