Willingness to use a drug consumption room among people who use drugs in Lyon, France, a city with no open scene of drug use (the TRABOUL survey)

BACKGROUND: Drug consumption rooms (DCRs) have been developed in cities with open drug scenes, with the aim to reduce drug-related harm. In Lyon, France's second-largest city, there is no distinct drug use area, which raised doubts regarding the need for a DCR. METHODS: We conducted a face-to-face survey of 264 people who use drugs (PWUDs), recruited in harm reduction or addiction treatment centers, in the streets or in squats. We assess their willingness to use a DCR, and we collected sociodemographic and medical features. Bivariable comparisons and analyses adjusted for sociodemographic parameters explored the association between willing to use a DCR and other variables, thus providing crude (ORs) and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). RESULTS: In total, 193 (73.1%) PWUDs accepted to participate (mean age 38.5 ± 9.3 years; 80.3% men). Among them, 64.2% declared willing to use a DCR. Being treatment-seeker (aOR 0.20, 95% CI [0.08–0.51]; p < 0.001) and not living alone (aOR 0.29; 95% CI [0.10–0.86], p = 0.025) were negatively associated with willing to use a DCR. By contrast, receiving precarity social insurance (aOR 4.12; 95% CI [1.86–9.14], p < 0.001), being seropositive for hepatitis C (aOR 3.60; 95% CI [1.20–10.84], p = 0.022), being cannabis user (aOR 2.45; 95% CI [1.01–5.99], p = 0.049), and reporting previous problems with residents (aOR 5.99; 95% CI [2.16–16.58], p < 0.001) or with the police (aOR = 4.85; 95% CI [1.43–16.39], p = 0.011) were positively associated. CONCLUSIONS: PWUDs, especially the most precarious ones, largely supported the opening of a DCR in Lyon, a city with no open drug scene. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12954-023-00887-7.