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In May 2023, the Minnesota Legislature approved funding for Safe Recovery Sites run by independent organizations. The funding could support up to 15 sites across Minnesota. The primary function of these sites is to save lives through overdose and disease prevention.
Below are answers to frequently asked questions about these new sites.
The sites will offer supplies and services, such as:
Safe recovery sites save lives and provide clear public health and economic benefit for communities. They also save money by reducing 911 calls, ambulance rides and hospital stays for overdose, and by reducing HIV and Hepatitis C transmission as well as substance use-related wounds and infections.
Not only will these sites save lives – they will improve the quality of life for surrounding communities. Wherever the sites are located, they will reduce syringe litter in the area, they will reduce public injection, and they will help more people access treatment and needed supports.
Safe recovery sites also offer important opportunities to provide outreach and wraparound services, and to offer compassion to people who are struggling. These sites will be centers of hope and acceptance where people can embrace the possibilities of healing and recovery.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the majority of new hepatitis C cases are due to injection drug use with shared equipment. Injection drug use is also a risk factor in the transmission of HIV. There were 298 new cases of HIV in Minnesota in 2021, 11.4% of which reported injection drug use. By providing sterile syringes for people to use, safe recovery sites will greatly reduce the risk of hepatitis C and HIV transmission.
While Safe Recovery Sites will provide a lot of the same services as a Syringe Service Program, they will also provide health monitoring for participants if they feel they are at-risk of overdose, access to wound care on-site, drug checking, and more. In addition, Safe Recovery Sites may eventually include safer use spaces.
Safer use spaces are places within a harm reduction program where people who use drugs can do so under the supervision of trained professionals. This ensures that people are reducing the risks of injection-related wounds, while having someone nearby to respond in the event of an overdose.
Not initially. Federal law has been interpreted as prohibiting safer use spaces. While this state legislation was a huge step forward, Minnesota and its harm reduction partners have a lot of work to do before the safer use aspect of the Safe Recovery Sites can be implemented. While safer use spaces will not initially be included in the services these sites provide, that component of the legislation will remain a priority. DHS is invested in working to make safer use spaces a reality in Minnesota.
Safer use spaces have been found to be highly effective in saving lives and improving public health. In New York City, these sites have already had a massive positive impact. Since opening Nov. 30, 2021, New York City’s safer use space program has served more than 3,000 people and overseen more than 66,000 doses. In that time, they have intervened in more than 800 overdoses. Zero of those overdoses have resulted in death. In addition, participants report an overall reduction in use and injecting after accessing services.
Also, people who inject drugs are significantly less likely to share or re-use needles if they regularly use supervised injection sites, making these sites an important tool in reducing the rates of HIV, hepatitis C, and soft tissue infections and wounds.
Safer user spaces can also foster trusted and stabilizing relationships – especially for those belonging to marginalized communities and those who are unhoused. These sites successfully engage people who are not connected with community health programs or human service systems. At overdose prevention sites, staff can provide education and referrals to treatment and recovery services, mental health services, housing, nutrition, health care, holistic supports and other critical services.
DHS will work with the Minnesota Department of Health, the Office of Addiction and Recovery, the Minnesota Department of Corrections, local law enforcement, and the local harm reduction community to have policies that support public health.
Ultimately, Safe Recovery Sites should have a positive impact on public safety. In areas where people have access to sterile syringes, law enforcement officers are 66% less likely to experience accidental needlesticks. In addition, overdose prevention sites have not been found to increase drug injecting, drug trafficking or crime in the surrounding environments. Other places with safe recovery sites report they reduce neighborhood disturbances such as public injection, improper syringe disposal and injection-related litter.
To establish and fund the operation of these sites, Minnesota will spend $14.6 million in Fiscal Year 2024 and $3 million each year thereafter.
Ultimately, however, we expect these sites to save money in the long run by reducing 911 calls, ambulance rides and hospital stays for overdose, and by reducing HIV and hepatitis C transmission as well as injection-related wounds and infections.
We know that this may be a controversial issue for some community members. However, with the rising number of people dying from opioid overdoses, we don’t have time to take small steps. The urgency of the opioid epidemic requires bold action.
In the coming months, the Minnesota Department of Human Services will begin community engagement efforts for new sites or expansion of existing sites. As the first round of requests for proposals will not include safer use spaces and will include more conventional aspects of harm reduction, this initial community engagement will be mostly informational. DHS will continue engaging communities in deeper ways as it moves forward and explores how to include all services listed in the Safe Recovery Sites legislation – including safer use spaces.
Minnesota made historic investments to combat the opioid epidemic during the 2023 legislative session. You can learn more about those investments in this behavioral health legislative fact sheet.
In 2019, Governor Tim Walz signed the Opiate Epidemic Response bill into law, which raises funds from prescribers, drug manufacturers and distributors to fight the opioid crisis, while creating the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council to oversee the funding. Learn more about the programs funded through this law on the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council webpage.
