SAVING LIVES –
APRIL 27, 2025 – The left arm of Christian Camilo Amaya is tattooed with a skull pierced by a syringe, which he says represents the use of cocaine and heroin. He frequently shot up on streets of Bogota, but he has recently switched to South America’s only supervised room for drug use, aimed at reducing harm and preventing overdoses. Non-profit organization Accion Tecnica Social runs the supervised room named Cambie (or Change in English) in Colombia’s capital. Since it opened in June 2023, 14 users had their overdoses treated with injections of naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses. The last such case was a year ago.
Amaya often carries a black plastic bag with more than a dozen used syringes, which he puts in a red container for biological waste, as protocols for using the room dictate. He denies being addicted to heroin, but argues the supervised room gives him syringes and training on hygienic injections and overdose prevention.
“I know what substances do to me, so I know I shouldn’t be a frequent user for that very reason, to avoid becoming addicted,” Amaya told The Associated Press in the unmarked drug use room in one of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.
