Syringe Exchange and Opiate Substitution Treatment (OST)

""Providing assistance in gaining access to OST [Opioid Substitution Treatment] and general care is one of the CAARUD’s [Support Centre for the Reduction of Drug-related Harms] primary missions:
"• 83% of the CAARUDs reported that they had set up access to OST (referral or monitoring)
"• of all of their activities involving access to hygiene and first aid, the most common procedures (35%) were body care, followed by nursing care (26%);
"• 84.7% of CAARUDs developed health education promotion activities, 75% of which were individual interviews and group sessions focussing on the risks related to substances and to modes of contamination.
"The CAARUDs saw 48,000 people in 2008. The new patient intakes per structure stands at an average of approximately 200 subjects, although in reality the figures varied greatly: 41 centres saw fewer than 200 people whereas 11 CAARUDs saw more than 1,000 155 (Chalumeau 2010).
"The role of the CSAPAs [National Treatment and Prevention Centre for Substance Abuse] in reducing risks, which is one of their missions, cannot be quantified in the absence of data."