Pubdate: Wed, 22 May 2002
Source: Manchester Evening News (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Manchester Evening News
Contact:  http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1313
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?131 (Heroin Maintenance)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

MPs BACK DRUG 'HAVENS' PLAN

PLANS for a network of "shooting galleries" where heroin addicts can inject 
without risking arrest were unveiled today.

The Commons Home Affairs Committee said "safe injecting houses" could be 
tested in key areas and then expanded nationally.

"At their most basic these are places where addicts can go without fear of 
arrest to inject illegally purchased heroin and where practical advice is 
available as to the safest means of injection and the safe disposal of 
needles," say the MPs.

But the committee, chaired by Labour MP Chris Mullin, firmly ruled out 
legalisation or decriminalisation of illegal drugs and said it was a step 
into the unknown.

"Those who urge this course upon us are asking us to tread where no other 
society has.

"They are asking us to gamble the undoubted potential gains against the 
inevitability of a significant increase in the number of users, especially 
amongst the very young," say the committee.

But the MPs say they do accept there is a strong case for bringing heroin 
use above ground so those who want to be helped can be and those who do not 
want to be helped can at least indulge their habit at minimum risk to their 
own health and that of the public.

'Shooting gallery'

"The obvious first step is the introduction of safe injecting houses, 
so-called shooting galleries, of the sort that exist elsewhere in Europe." 
The MPs call for a nationwide network of shooting galleries but the Home 
Office say the current policy is opposed to the move.

Controversially, the MPs also call for an experiment in providing heroin 
users with "clean" heroin, or diamorphine, legally available to users with 
advice on doses and injecting techniques.

Although some experts agree with this move, which has been tried out in 
Holland and Switzerland, other doctors told the MPs this could create 
lifelong addicts.

In their report, the MPs say that government policy on drugs needs a major 
shake-up concentrating on education for users rather than criminal 
sanctions - and concentrating on the 250,000 users with real problems. They 
are opposed to legalisation of drugs but support Home Secretary David 
Blunkett's plan to reclassify cannabis from Class B to the less serious 
Class C - although they accept that cannabis can be harmful and should be 
discouraged - and Ecstasy reclassified as a Class B drug.

The MPs agree with the government that after clinical trials the law should 
be changed to allow the use of cannabis-based medicines to help patients 
with a wide range of conditions including Aids, multiple sclerosis and 
arthritis. The committee urges a sense of proportion, pointing out that 
legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol are responsible for far greater 
damage than illegal ones. They call on the government to invest in a 
programme which addresses all forms of drug abuse, including cigarettes and 
alcohol.

Mr Mullin says that all drug use is to a greater or lesser extent harmful 
and should be discouraged, although they have to face the fact that large 
numbers of young people take drugs.
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