Heroin 'shooting galleries' call

[RealGanjaMan]

Found this one to be quite interesting.
Definatly worth a read.

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Britain should set up special centers for heroin addicts to inject themselves to try to cut the risk of disease and overdose, a report says.

They would provide a safe and clean place to take drugs, according to the study funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity which conducts social policy research.

Although there are about 65 "shooting galleries" in Australia, Canada and across Europe, Britain has no plans to allow them.

The government rejected the report's call for a trial, saying the centers could increase crime.

Despite resistance in Britain, the report's authors said the centers would help save lives and cut drug-taking in public.

"This approach would offer a unique and promising way to work with the most problematic users," said Ruth Runciman, chairman of the panel which compiled the report. "Lives could be saved."

The proposed centers differ from unofficial injecting rooms because they would be supervised and drugs would not be sold.

The report said drug dealing and crime could be controlled near the centers, but the public remains hostile.

In 2002, a parliamentary committee said the government should set up a trial of drug rooms. The plan was rejected over concerns about their legality, public opinion and crime.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said the government's position was unchanged.

"The reasons for rejecting it in 2002 are as valid today -- the risk of an increase in localized dealing, anti-social behavior and acquisitive crime," he said.

An ICM poll for the BBC on Monday found three in four people saw drugs as a problem in their area. More than half said the police should be doing more to tackle drugs.

The DrugScope charity, which campaigns to shape drugs policy, welcomed the Rowntree report and said it hoped for a rational debate on the issue.

"A policy which can save lives deserves serious consideration, however controversial it may seem at first," said Chief Executive Martin Barnes.

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Source: CNN News

I find this very interesting, although I do not know if I agree with it or not.
It could be a good thing, I guess, to help the H addicts,
However, it also could send the wrong message about heroin addiction.


-RGM

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