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To make her case, Hyshka completed a PhD project that offered one of the most comprehensive and current windows into the lives of street-involved Edmontonians who use drugs.

Photo by Stan Behal / Toronto Sun

Ninety-one per cent of the 320 people she interviewed in the spring and summer of 2014 had injected drugs in the previous six months. Although some people used occasionally, most who take opioids like morphine and hydromorphone inject drugs once or twice a day, and those who use stimulants, like crack cocaine or methamphetamine, can use seven or more needles a day.

Hyshka’s survey was done before Alberta’s spike in fentanyl overdoses, which killed 272 people in 2015.

A troubling finding for the public health researcher was that four in five people injecting drugs did it in public, which substantially increases the risk of health complications. On the street, people often lack sterile water and supplies, which can cause infections leading to skin abscesses, hepatitis C, HIV and other potentially fatal conditions.

More than a quarter of people Hyshka surveyed had shared a needle. That rate is nearly five times a recent count in Vancouver, which has two medically supervised injection sites.

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Hyshka is more guarded when asked for the potential service’s operational details, such as which organizations could host the 24/7 service, how much it would cost and who would pay for it. The group is still discussing options and finalizing the proposal.