Heroin Injection Rooms for the Addicted
The BBC News reports today that a panel of experts in Britan have recommended a program that has been in effect in Switzerland for years -- heroin addiction rooms, where addicts can go to get clean needles and shoot up, with a nurse on staff to help them find a vein or provide medical or treatment advice.
Addicts can get a shower, there is a small restaurant providing nutritious food, and even a corner with comfortable armchairs and table football. But perhaps the most important thing the centre provides, apart from the clean needles, is psychiatric support.
Most doctors who treat long-term addicts agree there is always a point when an addict is ready to give up heroin, and there are staff here to watch for those signs, to counsel, and to refer patients for therapy.
The principle behind the program is harm reduction --reducing the harm that illegal drugs cause to the users themselves as well as to society as a whole. Back to the BBC article today:
....getting people off drugs is not the primary aim of the centre; instead the real goal is harm reduction. "Of course it is great if we can refer people to a rehabilitation clinic," she said. "But the point is some of these addicts have already tried more than 10 times to come off heroin. They need their drugs, and they can't stop just like that.
"We know from experience that if we weren't here they would still take heroin, but out on the streets. What we are trying to do is help them survive this phase of addiction."
When will U.S. drug policy wise up?
On a related note, I meant to link to Avedon Carol at Sideshow who found this great video of a 1972 Euoropean performance of Heroin by Velvet Underground's Lou Reed and John Cale. It's streamed, so I don't think it can be downloaded, but it's great to watch.
Of course, we shouldn't forget Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done." Here's a video of his unplugged version.
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