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GLASGOW CONSIDERS CASE FOR UK’ S FIRST CONSUMPTION ROOM
GLASGOW COULD BECOME THE SITE OF THE UK’ S FIRST CONSUMPTION ROOM, after the Glasgow City Joint Integration Board officially approved the development of a business case.
A full business case for both a consumption room and heroinassisted treatment will now be drawn up, and formally considered when the board meets in February. Any facility established in the city should also offer wraparound services such as counselling, primary health care and advice on issues like housing and welfare, however, according to a working group established by the local alcohol and drug partnership( ADP)( DDN, July / August, page 4). This would help maximise engagement with the target population and increase‘ the potential for harm reduction’, the group said.
The working group reviewed how existing consumption room services operated in places like Europe, Canada and Australia, as well as considering feedback from stakeholders. A detailed costing of the facility will now be carried out, alongside a consultation with local residents and businesses to identify a location.
There are an estimated 5,500 people who inject drugs in Glasgow, according to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, with around 500‘ very vulnerable’ people injecting in public places around the city centre. Last year the city saw a spike in new HIV infections – 47 compared with the‘ previously consistent’ annual average of ten – and also recorded more than 150 drug-related deaths, while police and community safety teams regularly deal with problems associated with discarded needles.
The ADP said it would now develop a‘ robust’ case to support the development of the service, which is likely to prove controversial.‘ Today ' s decision marks real progress towards delivering a service model that meets the needs of this small, but very vulnerable, group,’ said the partnership’ s vice chair Dr Emilia Crighton.‘ We are now one step closer to catching up with other countries in the way we tackle this problem. This public injecting group has high rates of hospital admissions, incarceration and homelessness. While conventional treatment and services are effective for the majority of people, we believe this facility will make a major impact in reducing health risks and the resulting costs for this group.’
Although the ultimate goal was for users to remain drug free, until people were‘ ready to seek and receive help to stop using drugs it is important to keep them as safe as possible while do they continue to use drugs’, she stated.
Meanwhile, France’ s first consumption room has been opened in Paris by health minister Marisol Touraine and the city’ s mayor, Anne Hidalgo. Located in a hospital near the Gare du Nord, the facility is a partnership with harm reduction organisation Gaia-Paris and employs a multi-disciplinary team of 20, with staff expecting around 200 visitors a day. Touraine called the centre a‘ breakthrough for public health in our country’ and‘ an innovative and courageous response to a health emergency’. A second facility in Strasbourg is also expected to open before the end of the year. www. glasgow. gov. uk gaia-paris. fr
OPIUM UP
AFGHAN OPIUM PRODUCTION has soared by 43 per cent compared to 2015 levels, according to UNODC’ s latest Afghanistan opium survey. The increase – to 4,800 metric tons – was‘ worrying’, said UNODC executive director Yury Fedotov. While the area under opium cultivation has also risen by 10 per cent, the most important driver in the increased production is higher yield per hectare, the document explains. The country’ s western and southern regions – which together account for 84 per cent of total poppy cultivation – have recorded increases in yield per hectare of 37 and 36 per cent respectively. Document at www. unodc. org
The Project will give‘ a voice to a group who are poorly understood and rarely listened to’.
PROF DAVID BEST
‘... this facility will make a major impact in reducing health risks and the resulting costs for this group.’
DR EmIlIA CRIghTOn
CONVICTION POLITICS
PRISONS ARE FAILING to rehabilitate offenders and should be radically restructured, according to the final report of the RSA’ s‘ Future prison’ project( DDN, September, page 10, and June, page 7). Inconsistent political leadership has created a system that‘ puts public safety at risk’ says A matter of conviction: a blueprint for community-based prisons. Among a range of recommendations in the document is that a new‘ rehabilitation duty’ be legislated requiring prisons and probation services to track individual and institutional progress towards rehabilitation. Report at www. thersa. org
PREVENTATIVE PRIORITIES
GETTING PEOPLE BACK INTO WORK is a key way to tackle health inequalities in the North East, according to a report from NECA( North East Combined Authority). Last year the region recorded the highest number of drug-related deaths in the country for the third year running( DDN, October, page 4) and it also experiences high rates of alcohol-related harm. The document calls for a‘ radical shift’ to close the health and wealth gaps with the rest of the country, including better joint working, shifting the spending focus towards prevention and developing training for primary care staff on helping people with mental health conditions back into the workplace.‘ The entire system needs to shift its priority towards preventing poor health,’ said PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie. Health and wealth: closing the gap in the North East at www. northeastca. gov. uk
HUMAN HARMS
ENFORCING AMERICA’ S DRUG LAWS has caused‘ devastating’ and‘ unjustifiable’ harm to individuals and communities, says a report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. The document is calling for personal use and possession to be decriminalised for all drugs, as well as increased funding to improve and expand harm reduction services. Every 25 seconds: the human toll of criminalizing drug use in the US at www. hrw. org
FAMILY FOCUS
A JOINT RESEARCH PROJECT into what recovery means for the families of those with substance problems has been launched by Adfam and Sheffield Hallam University. The‘ Family life recovery project’ aims to map the recovery journey of family members through an in-depth survey and a series of workshops, with the results published next summer. The work would give‘ a voice to a group who are poorly understood and rarely listened to – those who bear much of the burden of addiction and who themselves are affected by the experience’, said project lead, Professor David Best. www. adfam. org. uk
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