美国国家公共电台 NPR Watchful Eyes: At Peer-Run Injection Sites, Drug Users Help Each Other Stay Safe

Watchful¹ Eyes: At Peer-Run Injection Sites, Drug Users Help Each Other Stay Safe

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To prevent overdose deaths, several U.S. cities are considering opening safe injection sites where users can get high under medical supervision². Officials are looking to Canadian cities like Vancouver for guidance. Authorities there have run supervised drug use sites for years. And now more of those sites are being run by people with experience using drugs. Gabriel Spitzer of member station KNKX has our story. And a warning - it includes descriptions of drug use that some listeners might find disturbing.

GABRIEL SPITZER, BYLINE³: In the back of a storefront in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighborhood, there's a small room with a wide glass window.

HUGH LAMPKIN: So this is the injection room we have. There's three tables, two chairs per table.

SPITZER: Hugh Lampkin is overseeing this supervised injection site. He explains how a trained attendant keeps watch and administers an antidote⁵ if somebody ODs. The attendant hands a large mirror to a wiry guy with a black goatee.

LAMPKIN: One of the big things is - they call it jugging. You know, after a while, it's really hard to find veins⁶ on your legs or your arm, so you have your jugular⁷ at your throat.

SPITZER: This is an especially dangerous practice. The user could easily hit an artery⁸ and cause a stroke.

LAMPKIN: We try and discourage it. But if they're set on doing it, why not give them the education to do it properly?

SPITZER: Plenty of people worry that supervised injection sites enable or even encourage really risky⁹ behavior. But staff here say people would be doing it anyway with fewer precautions. That's the idea behind harm reduction. In this case, that means teaching the heroin¹⁰ user to watch what he's doing. He props¹¹ the mirror up on a chair, sinks to all fours and examines his throat closely. Moments later, with the attendant watching through glass, he slips the needle in.

Medical professionals oversee⁴ many supervised injection sites, but this site is different. It's run by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. Supervisor¹² Hugh Lampkin has been a heroin user off and on for most of his life. He says the public health system here was overwhelmed by new potent¹³ opioids and cheap prices that caused a spike¹⁴ in the death toll¹⁵. So IV drug users launched their own sites where they supervise one another.

MARK LYSYSHYN: These community agencies and groups of peers and associations of drug users - they're the ones who are making the innovations. They're telling us what to do.

SPITZER: Mark Lysyshyn is with Vancouver Coastal¹⁶ Health, a government-run public health agency. They're the main source of funding for overdose prevention sites, which are technically¹⁷ still illegal, although Vancouver police say they support them. In the U.S., the Drug Enforcement Agency says these sites facilitate illegal activity and warns that anyone operating one could face legal action. But in Vancouver, they enjoy wide support, and people who use them say they're saving lives.

DARREN: Without this place, people would be dead all over.

SPITZER: Darren goes to an injection site supervised by peers almost every day. We are only using first names for people who may still be buying illegal drugs.

DARREN: This is a great place, and it saved me a couple of days ago. I did a shot of meth, and I was crying, and these guys really care about you here. They really do.

SPITZER: Some users still have mixed feelings. Cameron says he was a successful businessman before he got addicted¹⁸ to heroin. He's a volunteer and supports these sites but says working at one has had its costs.

CAMERON: Whether you see it or not, it does. It affects you when you see somebody that's almost dead. And he gets up, and then he does it again.

SPITZER: Officials in Vancouver say even as overdose deaths have mounted, not one person has died in any of the medical or peer-supervised injection sites. The chief coroner of British Columbia says without them, the death toll would be three times higher. For NPR News, I'm Gabriel Spitzer in Vancouver, Canada.

1 watchful   

adj.注意的，警惕的

参考例句：

• The children played under the watchful eye of their father.孩子们在父亲的小心照看下玩耍。
• It is important that health organizations remain watchful.卫生组织保持警惕是极为重要的。

2 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

5 antidote   

n.解毒药，解毒剂

参考例句：

• There is no known antidote for this poison.这种毒药没有解药。
• Chinese physicians used it as an antidote for snake poison.中医师用它来解蛇毒。

6 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 jugular   

n.颈静脉

参考例句：

• He always goes for the jugular.他总是直奔要害而去。
• Bilateral internal jugular vein stenting is also a rare procedure.两侧内颈静脉支架置放术也是少见的技术。

8 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

9 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

10 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

11 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

12 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

13 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

14 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

15 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

16 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

17 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

18 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。