Supervised facility for addicts to take drugs suggested

A drugs consumption room should be set up on a pilot basis in Dublin to allow for supervised use of illegal drugs, the director of the Merchants Quay Project has said.

Such a facility would be staffed by paramedics who would be able to deal with minor emergencies, according to Mr Tony Geoghegan, director of the drugs counselling service.

Staff would have swift access to the emergency services in more serious cases. The centre would provide sterile needles and would have facilities for the safe disposal of used needles.

While acknowledging that it was a controversial proposal, Mr Geoghegan said it was also a pragmatic suggestion.

He said it would reduce the public nuisance of people injecting drugs in areas such as parks and toilets. It would also reduce the number of HIV and Hepatitis C infections contracted through shared needles.

Drug-users in this State have among the highest rates of HIV and hepatitis C in Europe, according to a report released last week by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

Homeless people would be the most regular users of such a facility, and staff could encourage them to take up health and welfare services, Mr Geoghegan said.

Drugs consumption facilities are becoming more common throughout the world, with countries such as Australia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland all providing initiatives. There are more than 20 official drugs consumption facilities in the Netherlands. However, the Norwegian government recently decided against a pilot project, and an injection room initiative was shelved by Denmark's Ministry of Health two years ago.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction is now studying these experiences and will soon provide a summary of the initiatives.

The centre's chairman, Mr Mike Trace, has described the centres as "an experimental measure ... very controversial and very unevaluated".

Mr Geoghegan said a small pilot project in a city-centre location would show if the idea was worthwhile or not.

While the dangers of drug use must always be highlighted, people who were going to use drugs anyway should be encouraged to do so in as safe a manner as possible, he said.

Mr Geoghegan has visited centres in the Netherlands and Frankfurt and said the facility in Frankfurt had greatly reduced the number of people injecting around the train station.

A spokesman for the Department of Community, Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs - which has responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy - said the suggestion was not being ruled in or out at the moment.

"As with a lot of EU countries, it is something that is constantly under review," he said.