Establishing safe injecting rooms in Australia: attitudes of injecting drug users

Objective: To investigate the attitudes of injecting drug users (IDUs) towa rds the establishment of safe injecting rooms (SIRs) in Melbourne, Australi a. Methods: Multi-site convenience sampling at Needle and Syringe Exchange Pro grams (NSEPs) within six Melbourne suburbs. Four hundred current IDUs were recruited directly through NSEP and participant snowballing. Respondents co mpleted either a semi-structured interview, anonymous self-report questionn aire, face-to-face interview or participated in a focus group. Participants were asked to report on their knowledge and attitudes about SIR, their exp eriences and concerns as participants of street-based illicit drug markets, and their willingness to use SIRs if established. Results: Participants (91%) were knowledgeable about the SIR issue and thou ght such a strategy had potential to address both personal and wider commun ity harms associated with public injecting. Most (77%) indicated they would be wilting to use a SIR if established in Melbourne. Gender, lifetime non- fatal overdose episodes and frequency of heroin use were all significantly related to a person's willingness to use SIRs. A significant number also re ported a preference for injecting at their own place dr residence due to co ncerns regarding privacy, safety and police presence within street-based ma rket places. Conclusions: This study has identified a number of important issues relatin g to the likely demand and uptake of SIRs that should be addressed when con sidering the feasibility of establishing SIRs within Australia.