Insite - Supervised Injection Site

Since opening its doors in 2003, Insite has been a safe, health-focused place where people inject drugs and connect to health care services – from primary care to treat disease and infection, to addiction counselling and treatment, to housing and community supports.

Insite is North America’s first legal supervised injection site. Vancouver Coastal Health operates, and provides all the funding, senior administrative and health care workers for the facility. Vancouver Coastal Health  gets the bulk of our funding from the BC Ministry of Health Services. PHS Community Services Society provides administrative and peer support services at Insite through contract with Vancouver Coastal Health.

Insite operates on a harm-reduction model, which means it strives to decrease the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use without requiring abstinence from drug use.

An overview of Insite -10 years later

Doctors Julio Montaner and Thomas Kerr of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS summarize the successful history of North America’s first supervised injection site with legal standing.

What services do you provide?Visit the Insite services page to learn more about our services.

Who uses your services? Visit the Our Clients page to learn more about the people we serve.

Why are you located in the Downtown Eastside? Read the Our Location page to find out why we are located in this community.

What are the health benefits? Read the Research page to get the latest research on the success of the Insite model.

Is there research to support Insite? Read the Research page to get the latest research on the success of the Insite model.