Exploring the Public Health Impacts of Private Security Guards on People Who Use Drugs: a Qualitative Study.

摘要: Private security guards occupy an increasingly prominent role in the policing of private and public spaces. There are growing concerns regarding guards’ potential to shape violence, discrimination, adverse health outcomes among vulnerable populations, including people who use drugs (PWUD). This is relevant Vancouver, Canada, where have been employed by organizations manage spaces, those within urban drug scenes. qualitative study sought understand interactions between PWUD explore their impacts on care access, risks, harms PWUD. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 recruited from two ongoing prospective cohort studies. Interviews transcribed analyzed using a coding framework comprised priori emergent categories. Study data indicate that participants experience pervasive, discriminatory profiling surveillance guards, which exacerbates existing social marginalization structural vulnerability, particularly Aboriginal ancestry. Participants reported restrict PWUD’s access pharmacies hospitals. also often involved interpersonal violence aggression, experiences served increase vulnerability subsequent risks harms. Our findings highlight forces contribute significantly everyday experienced scenes elsewhere do so manner very similar traditional police forces. These point urgent need for greater oversight training order protect safety