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“From that perspective, there is a room to manoeuvre here. A lot of the approval for the safe-injection site is soft approval, so there are ways for public opinion to change.”

Broken down by gender, approval for a safe-injection site was slightly higher among female respondents (47 per cent) than males (41 per cent). Support levels were similar among all age groups except for seniors, who were deadlocked on the issue with 41-per-cent approval and 40-per-cent disapproval.

The poll was conducted at the end of March, shortly after an Edmonton group announced it was working to establish the province’s first supervised drug injection service. The idea of such sites is to reduce harm to drug users by providing clean needles, sterilized water and medical staff to monitor their condition.

A recent study by a core member of the group, University of Alberta health researcher Elaine Hyshka, found some troubling trends among Edmonton’s inner-city drug users.

Among those who inject drugs, four of five admitted to doing it in public, where they often lack clean water and supplies. As well, more than quarter of the drug users she interviewed said they had shared needles. Such behavior can lead to skin abscesses and infections of hepatitis C and HIV.

Hyshka’s group has yet to share its thoughts on which organization could operate the service, where it should be located, and who would pay for it.

Such details will be key in determining if Edmontonians continue to back the idea, Valentin said. While it’s one thing for a resident to approve of the concept of a safe-injection facility, the poll did not ask if they supported it being hosted in their neighbourhood.