Supervised Injecting Rooms in Other Countries
Over the course of the last decade injecting room facilities have been established in several European Countries. The main countries who have been successful in the establishment of Supervised Injecting Rooms are the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany.
THE NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands has adopted a low threshold service approach for drug users. The service is aimed at harm reduction, the general aim of which is to stabilise and improve the drug users’ health. Such programs seek to improve the health status of drug users by maintaining contact with marginalised users and facilitating re-integration. They provide services such as needle exchange, counselling, food and they facilitate entry into drug treatment.
According to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport for the Netherlands:
The protection of health of drug users is a major priority and a wide range of facilities are available. The Netherlands spends more than 300 million guilders a year on facilities for addicts. Over half of this amount is spent and their capacity has been increased, from 500 places in 1980 to 961 in 1995. In the past ten years accessibility of care services has improved considerably. These services now research an estimated 75% of all addicts. Their aim is to reach as many addicts as possible to assist them in efforts to rehabilitate, or to limit the risks caused by their drug habit. Social rehabilitation is an essential element. To achieve these aims, an extensive network of services has been established. Methadone programmes enable addicts to lead reasonably normal lives without causing nuisance to their immediate environment, while needle exchange programmes prevent the transmission of diseased such as AIDS and hepatitis B through infected needles. The services also provide counselling. (Drug Policy in the Netherlands, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport for the Netherlands, April 1997, p1)
The declining prevalence of HIV infection among drug users has previously been reported as one measure of success accepted by the local authorities in support of their approach to the illicit drug problems.
The participation of the police in the planning and supervision of these facilities was regarded by the local authorities as fundamental to their day to day operation and their acceptance by the community. The rooms have strict entry criteria: users have to be both 18 years old and have a history of injecting. If people enter the injecting rooms and they do not have a history of injecting, the injecting facilities are sending a wrong message to society, by introducing drug addiction to the public. These injecting facilities are purely to assist current drug addicts with their addiction issue. (Both centres provide separate rooms for smoking drugs rather than injecting them)
THE NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands has adopted a low threshold service approach for drug users. The service is aimed at harm reduction, the general aim of which is to stabilise and improve the drug users’ health. Such programs seek to improve the health status of drug users by maintaining contact with marginalised users and facilitating re-integration. They provide services such as needle exchange, counselling, food and they facilitate entry into drug treatment.
According to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport for the Netherlands:
The protection of health of drug users is a major priority and a wide range of facilities are available. The Netherlands spends more than 300 million guilders a year on facilities for addicts. Over half of this amount is spent and their capacity has been increased, from 500 places in 1980 to 961 in 1995. In the past ten years accessibility of care services has improved considerably. These services now research an estimated 75% of all addicts. Their aim is to reach as many addicts as possible to assist them in efforts to rehabilitate, or to limit the risks caused by their drug habit. Social rehabilitation is an essential element. To achieve these aims, an extensive network of services has been established. Methadone programmes enable addicts to lead reasonably normal lives without causing nuisance to their immediate environment, while needle exchange programmes prevent the transmission of diseased such as AIDS and hepatitis B through infected needles. The services also provide counselling. (Drug Policy in the Netherlands, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport for the Netherlands, April 1997, p1)
The declining prevalence of HIV infection among drug users has previously been reported as one measure of success accepted by the local authorities in support of their approach to the illicit drug problems.
The participation of the police in the planning and supervision of these facilities was regarded by the local authorities as fundamental to their day to day operation and their acceptance by the community. The rooms have strict entry criteria: users have to be both 18 years old and have a history of injecting. If people enter the injecting rooms and they do not have a history of injecting, the injecting facilities are sending a wrong message to society, by introducing drug addiction to the public. These injecting facilities are purely to assist current drug addicts with their addiction issue. (Both centres provide separate rooms for smoking drugs rather than injecting them)
