France to Introduce Supervised Injection Sites

[23536]

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/oct/22/france_introduce_supervised_inje

France looks to be the latest European country to embrace the harm reduction practice of providing supervised injection sites, according to France 24 TV. Facilities could be open by year's end, said Health Minister Marisol Touraine.

Since the first supervised injection site opened in the Netherlands in the 1970s, they have since spread to Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, and Spain, and the Danish parliament approved them earlier this year. Supervised injection sites also exist in Vancouver, Canada, and Sydney, Australia.

Supervised injection sites are credited with lowering overdoses, reducing the spread of blood-borne diseases, improving client health and public health, providing entry to drug treatment and other medical and social services, and reducing public disorder. They have also been linked to reductions in neighborhood crime.

President Francois Hollande campaigned on a promise to establish the first supervised injection sites in the country, and Paris Deputy Mayor Jean-Marie Le Guen endorsed the idea in August. Several French cities are ready to test the practice, Touraine said.

The conservative opposition party UMP criticized the plan, saying in a statement that allowing such facilities "trivializes drug use and legalizes the use of the hardest drugs at the taxpayer's expense."

In moving forward with supervised injection sites, the French government is going against public opinion, but with science. While an August 2010 Ifop poll found 53% supported the sites and 47% opposed them, a similar poll by Ifop last month found only 45% in favor and 55% opposed.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/oct/22/france_introduce_supervised_inje

 

[Mercc96]

Good move in the right direction, I dont believe we have supervised injection sites in the UK do we?

 

[poledriver]

Supervised injection sites also exist in Vancouver, Canada, and Sydney, Australia.

Doesn't sound like it. The one in Sydneys Kings Cross http://www.sydneymsic.com has been operating for over 10 years now I think.

Evidence shows that supervised injecting centres offer benefits to the individuals who use the service, as well as public health benefits for the local community. Evidence has shown that they do not lead to adverse community outcomes. MSIC has been independently evaluated since it opened in 2001, with all reports showing benefit. MSIC has also be shown to be a cost-effective initiative.
In the last ten years of successful operation, the MSIC has registered over 12,600 clients and has successfully managed more than 4,400 drug overdoses on site without a single fatality.
The number of publicly discarded needles and syringes has approximately halved in Kings Cross since MSIC opened.
There has been an 80% reduction in ambulance call-outs to the Kings Cross area since MSIC established.
Documented results show the majority of local injecting drug users have registered with MSIC, especially those most at risk. Nearly three quarters of all MSIC clients had not previously accessed the services in the local area for injecting drug users at registration. This shows that MSIC enhances access to necessary health and social welfare services.
There have been over 9,500 referrals made by MSIC staff. About half of these were for addiction treatment. About 40% of MSIC clients have never previously accessed addiction treatment services.
All clients are offered assistance and referrals. However the more often a person is seen at the MSIC, the more likely they are to accept a referral into treatment. Amongst those clients who we seen frequently, 80% have ultimately accepted a referral for addiction treatment. All of the other frequent attendees have had a referral offered to them, and almost all had agreed to a discussion at length about their situation with a staff member who outlined the benefits of treatment.
MSIC has provided a sensitive and timely early warning system with regards to drug trends, changes in purity and injecting risk behaviours. The MSIC environment also provides a unique opportunity to gain a better understanding of injecting practices and evolution of drug overdose.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

good for them

 

[maxalfie]

Well done France. Now if only the British government would grow some balls and allow the same type of thing over here.
It would save homeless folk having to inject in public places and scaring the general public.
No one really wants to have to inject themselves in public toilets and the public certainly don't wish to see it.
It would also help to cut down on the number of used needles that are left lying around in parks,multi-storey carparks etc.
We can but hope that our government actually thinks about doing this, but I doubt it.