Overdose deaths and Vancouver's supervised injection facility

1in which it is claimed that the opening of a supervised injection facility on Sept 21, 2003, in Van couver, BC, Canada, was associated with a 35% decrease in overdose deaths in its immediate surrounding, contains serious errors. The claim that all overdose deaths in Vancouver declined between 2001 and 2005 is strongly aff ected by the highly questionable inclusion of the year 2001—a year of much higher heroin availability and overdose fatalities than all subsequent years. A study period starting from 2002 in fact shows an increasing trend of overdose deaths both for Vancouver and for the Downtown Eastside area in which the facility, Insite, is situated (fi gure), 2