Framework for Reaction: the politics of evaluating North America's first safe injection site

Abstract

<p>Program evaluation is inherently political, and the evaluation of a state-sponsored injection site for drug users especially so. Stakeholder analysis is one element of a comprehensive evaluation, one that usually takes place after the program has been in operation for some time. In the case of the City of Vancouver's decision to establish such a site, it was clear that there was already stakeholder opinion prior to the opening of the site. This study examines pre- and post-trial stakeholder opinion by reviewing media and other accounts of the pre-trial public debate, and by interviewing six major stakeholders eight months into the trial. Special attention was given to the issue of how to include the voice of a marginalized population in a stakeholder analysis, and four principles were proposed as a means to guide the stakeholder analysis piece of the initial evaluation of this highly controversial initiative.</p>