Supervised drug-use centres key to reducing harm says EU expert
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Supervised centres where marginalised people can legally take drugs should be seen as “key instruments” in reducing the harm caused by substances, the head of the EU drug agency has said.
Alexis Goosdeel, director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, said this was from seeing the work of drug consumption rooms (DCRs) across the EU, with some 100 centres now in operation.
His comments, made at an Emcdda-webinar, comes amid unconfirmed reports that An Bord Pleanála may decide soon on a court-ordered re-examination of proposals to set up Ireland’s first supervised injection centre in Dublin.
Permission given by the planning authority to the pilot centre, to be operated by Merchants Quay Ireland, was rejected by the High Court last July.
The ruling came after St Audeon’s primary school, which lies adjacent to MQI buildings, lodged a judicial review of the decision.
The court ruled the planning body had failed to take into account the concerns of the school in its decision to grant permission.
Speaking at the webinar, Mr Goosdeel said experiences from DCRs, including staff from three centres that spoke at the webinar, highlighted the need for “strong community work”.
He said that while there was an issue with stigma of drug users and a “not in my backyard” mentality, the problem with community opposition was often “more of a general problem of fragmented communities”.
He said there was “no magic solution” to this issue, but said it was one Emcdda would discuss at EU level.
Noelia Girona, coordinator of REDAN in Barcelona, Spain, said the first DCR was set up in the city in 2001 and said there were now 22 of them in Barcelona.
She said they do deal with “not in my backyard” attitude and said her unit was “in the middle” of a community and that some neighbours actively oppose the centre.
She said the police are outside for ten hours the centre is open and that she deals with them every day and has a meeting every week.
She said there was a need to think about a 24/7 service as drug use continues after DCRs close.
Paulo Caldeira of Ares do Pinhal DCR in Lisbon, Portugal, said the location of centres must be chosen “carefully” and that services “have to listen” to the local community.
He pointed out that although DCRs were legal since 2001, it wasn’t until 2019 that mobile DCRs were set up and not until 2021 before the first fixed centre.
He put the delay down to “lack of political will” and stigma and “not in my back yard” attitudes.
His colleague Roberta Reis said that while they might have expected 300 users in their first year, they had 1,300.
She said they had a total of 18 overdoses, all of which were successfully reversed.
She said they provide an integrated service and boast a team of psychologists, social workers, nursers, educationalists, physicians and psychiatrists.
Ms Reis said they quickly realise a shift in users with a majority being crack smokers, rather than heroin injectors.
Athanasios Theocharis of OKANA DCR in Athens, Greece, said legislation was introduced in April 2020 allowing for such centres and that in April 2022 they opened.
Already they’ve had 845 visits and 240 supervised drug uses. He said they have already noticed a change with more people smoking crystal meth.
He said they plan five mobile 24/7 DCRs in Athens and a mobile centre in Thessaloniki.