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"Fix Rooms" - what's your opinions?

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retiredfromthegame

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"Fix Rooms" - what's your opinion?

I saw this on the news here last night. Sadly I can't find the exact same article but here's the jist

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38531307

Wish I could find the exact video that was on the news last night. It was like a scene from the zombie apocalypse.

Anyway, when I first heard of this a few months back it seemed like a good idea. Well last night after watching the news my opinion has turned a full 180.

First of, anyone who knows any kind of local dealing syndicates knows that places like the methadone clinics are deliberately targeted in most cities. This place 100% has got to be an easy way to shift alot of drugs on the regular.

To me it's not a step in the right direction, just handing more money to the organised crime syndicates who supply the area. It's another hotspot.

Secondly, and here's what really got me. They said it was in aid of Harm Reduction. Fair enough, so is Bluelight, we still have cases where handing the individual the information causes more harm than it does help to reduce; it's to be expected.

What got me about their whole "HR" claim was there was a Polish boy on the programme. Well they let this guy shoot up a cocktail of:- heroin, "super potent cocaine" and diazepam. In one shot, right infront of them. Then let him walk out the door back into the cold with his eyes in the back of his head into the street. It was at this point I drew the line and realised the whole thing was a botched operation.

Yes they are providing clean injection equipment, but there are already places which do that anyway.

Yes they are providing a safe environment for people to shoot up drugs. But is that not just making drug use more comfortable? It's certainly not helping people get off drugs, they said themselves that's not their intentions, the intention was solely to provide a safe environment for hard drugs users.

In a way I get it. If I was a full blown junkie shooting up in the supermarket toilets this might seem like a god send. In reality though knowing the things I know in the real world, this is just going to cause further problems and cause the general public to frown on drug use more.

It's potentially going to turn an area where it's located into more of a hell hole than it already was - just because your providing a safe environment for them to use in doesnt mean they will show respect for the surrounding area and crime won't go up, addictions still have to be funded somehow after all.

Most of all the problems stem from the fact instead of using the Swiss module of them actually giving out the drugs they let people bring them in. So the power is still in the hands of criminals, no way of knowing the drugs are safe, letting people administer ridiculous cocktails... Just seems to me they're not actually helping anyone or having any aim for a positive impact to help people get clean they're providing a no holds barred environment plus a new social circle of problem drug users to meet each other.

You could see it in two ways I guess. It's either a step towards the right direction, shooting galleries instead of methadone clinics, where they reduce the dose but give them pure stuff and taper the doses. Or its going to make shooting galleries like that seem like a bad idea so the general public go against it. With the lack of knowledge shown last night I'm willing to bet the latter, it will be seen as a scurge on the local community.

Be interested to hear the opinions of others here. Or if anyone has visited a place like this in their town.
 
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Fix rooms have been going for years in Switzerland. It's proven to work.

Let's face facts if your looking to score your going to score? If it's the guy next to you in the fix room or down a dark alley. Switzerland use and left over needles in public places etc. virtually none exsistent plus it allows for a point of contact for users to share experience get clean works see effects of others and bring them together to allow support and advice etc.

I think fix rooms are a fantastic idea. They are really aimed at the street scene addicted user not the occasional so giving this group (often they have nowhere to go) a safe and clean environment is not up for debate and it's a realisation that trying to paint over a problem is never the solution.

It also saves a great deal of money on NHS emergency services. The biggest plus If you OD in the room you've got way more chance of surivival.
 
The fix rooms in Switzerland give out the heroin. Its pure and to my knowledge they administer the injection too.

The ones in Glasgow on the news let people bring their own drugs instead, let them inject themselves and shoot up a mix of heroin and diazepam. There's a whole world of difference between the Swiss model and this IMO

I never said I thought fix rooms weren't a good idea. Its proven the Swiss model works. It's been adopted by the Dutch and soon ROI too to my knowledge.
It's more this model is just a disaster and likely to hinder future progress is my issue. They should have just gone the Swiss module or not done it at all for the reasons outlined is my opinion basically.
 
Brilliant in principle, but virtually unworkable in practice unless they supply the goods.

Having said that, they are still preferable to having people shooting up in alleyways using blunt works and toilet water...
 
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Well the one we have in Australia has proven to be a massive success. The only reason more have not been opened is the pendulum has swung here to more of the conservative bullshit zero tollerance model rather than harm reduction.
When it opened in Kings Cross which was Sydney's red light district ( though the latest conservative govt have basically killed the Crosses nightlife now) and heroin and cocaine injecting was everywhere. There were quick stay hotels operating as shooting galleries and people that didn't have or want to pay the ten bucks to use those would shoot in the streets. The heroin at the time was coming from Cabramatta a suburb of Sydney which at the time was run by Vietnamese crime gangs most notably the 5T. The heroin they sold was direct from Chinese importers and over 90% pure South East Asian #4 heroin. This is not speculation its fact. Many police lab tests on street caps ($50 deal) showed 95 - 96% purity. The train to Cabramatta was called the Smack Express. The gangs were waiting at the train station for their customers. As you can imagine with gear of such high but still variable purity a lot of people died

This was when the injecting room in the cross was opened. In twenty odd years there has been thousands of od's there but not one single death. People given sterile needles etc and also come into contact with drug support workers. Many credit this last fact as the thing that got them off drugs. The police do not harrass anyone entering the room and my understanding is no dealing is tolerated at the centre but its not exactly hard to buy whatever you want in the cross.

So tldr Stopped thousands of OD's
Stopped people shooting up in alley ways and parks leaving needles laying around.
Brings users into contact with health workers
Helps stop the spread of blood borne diseases.

Its a massive success and they dont supply the drugs.
 
The thing is I completely agree with many of the points you make consumer. The needles on the street, the overdoses etc.

Problem is this trial one in Glasgow I just don't see that's going to be the case. It seems it's run by eastern Europeans who know very little about HR. They let the guy who could barely find a vain shoot up a snowball with diazepam in it then walk out into the street 5 minutes later with his eyes in the back of his head basically incoherent. Glasgow is already an area if you know the people there's a particular distain for junkies already, sending this back out into the street is just hindering the process IMO of getting to the stage we are actually doing anything useful, it's going to backfire and there will be a public outcry and it will probably be shut down before achieving anything actually useful.

I sound pessimistic, but that's what being a drug user in the UK has taught me to expect :D
 
consumer said:
Lol. I will give you that one. Your the fucking Grand Master Cunt
Click to expand...

'Grand Master Cunt'. I fuckin love it =D

If I wasn't also a tight arsed cunt, I would quite happily pay you for the rights to use that as my new username - I'd even make the required (minimal) donation to BL for the privilege.

BTW, it's 'you're', not 'your' ;)

Yours, Grand Master Tight Arsed Pedantic Cunt.
 
I think it's the sort of thing that is very much implementation-dependent.

Done properly, they can provide a safe environment for users; including access to clean works, foil if you would rather not stick needles in yourself and medically trained staff on hand. Also condoms, dental dams and water-based lubricant, in case anyone feels horny after the drugs wear off .....

Done badly, they can draw people's attention to a problem they never knew existed and foster public resentment.

With this lot in charge, I'm not holding my breath .....
 
I was wrong in a way, they wouldn't really have to be the ones giving out the gear. As you say just implement things properly, stay on top of it.

I couldn't for the life of me as an occasional crack smoker myself work out why you would let crack heads in the door either. It should be for heroin only. If they use both fair enough but what's someone with just a £600 a week crack habit doing in there? To the general public its going to go down like a lead balloon and be branded a drug den by the daily mail before the whole thing is a write off.
 
In the Sydney room you are required to wait half an hour before you can leave. Its run by doctors and nurses and was started by Dr Alex Wodak who is a total legend. He was head of the Emergency Dept at St Vincent's hospital, the hospital closest to the war zone that was the cross. Something needed to be done and he fought and fought the govt to open it. He is currently fighting for proper pill testing at festivals and he and a number of doctors are prepared to risk arrest if the govt wont come to the party so to speak.

The Sydney room is an unqualified success. I am sure there is plenty of info on it on the net. It was one of the first to operate in the world.
 
The main thing it prevents deaths, and brings vulnerable drug users into contact with medical and social help. They help people find housing, get treatment for hiv and hepc. If its run properly its a win win for everyone
 
Yeah I'd fully support something like that. It will be interesting to see what kind of system they roll out in Ireland but from my understanding it's going to be much better organised than this. Which is ridiculous considering the state of the Irish economy compared to the UK.
 
Itsgoneundertheboa said:
Fix rooms have been going for years in Switzerland. It's proven to work.

Let's face facts if your looking to score your going to score? If it's the guy next to you in the fix room or down a dark alley. Switzerland use and left over needles in public places etc. virtually none exsistent plus it allows for a point of contact for users to share experience get clean works see effects of others and bring them together to allow support and advice etc.

I think fix rooms are a fantastic idea. They are really aimed at the street scene addicted user not the occasional so giving this group (often they have nowhere to go) a safe and clean environment is not up for debate and it's a realisation that trying to paint over a problem is never the solution.

It also saves a great deal of money on NHS emergency services. The biggest plus If you OD in the room you've got way more chance of surivival.
Click to expand...

This and don't you think the police would keep an eye out for potential dealers outside that place?
You'd have to be daft to be trying to deal there imo...
 
The police in Sydney will bust dealers in the area but not users for possession
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
'Grand Master Cunt'. I fuckin love it =D

If I wasn't also a tight arsed cunt, I would quite happily pay you for the rights to use that as my new username - I'd even make the required (minimal) donation to BL for the privilege.

BTW, it's 'you're', not 'your' ;)

Yours, Grand Master Tight Arsed Pedantic Cunt.
Click to expand...
Fuck off Grand Master Pedantic Cunt
 
It's a very simple and effective way for brown dealers to start up, usually by a proxy junkie but getting the word out there's bags for sale collecting numbers etc.

These people aren't like hash dealers who want to remain unknown and low key. They want to be known as the go to and are fully expecting to be raided every other day.
 
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