Harm reduction services and decriminalization save government money by preventing disease, harms and death so that people require less from the health system.

Insite, North America's first sanctioned supervised consumption site, has two studies supporting this fact. In 2010, the International Journal of Drug Policy published an analysis showing that Insite saves the taxpayer system over $6 million per year by preventing HIV infection and death. In 2008, a publication in the Canadian Medical Association Journal demonstrated that Insite saved taxpayers $18 million over 10 years by reducing disease transmissions, needle sharing and encouraging safer drug us practices.

In Canada, the treatment for one person with HIV is approximately $15,000 per year. Canadian researchers have found that public injection and syringe sharing decreased by 5.5% after overdose prevention sites were opened in an area. In Switzerland, HIV infections dropped by 84% when heroin-assisted treatment was implemented.

Arresting people and putting them in jail or fining them is expensive and doesn’t prevent or reduce the number of people being poisoned by a toxic drug supply. In 2017, Canada spent $4.8 billion on policing costs for illegal drugs. This includes policing, courts, and correctional services.

References
i. Evidence Around Harm Reduction and Public Health-Based Drug Policies, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition