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Shahin Nasiri

Throughout Europe, there are facilities that provide medical supervision for addicts, which significantly reduces drug-related deaths.

“Jorgen, while injecting the needle into his vein and heroin enters his bloodstream, is intensely stimulated. His eyes open with the thrill caused by a deep neglect.”

Across Europe, thousands of people are in a state of drug consumption every day. Hundreds of people, like Jürgen, experience this situation in drug consumption rooms. However, in England, this experience does not happen in this way and drug addicts mainly consume drugs on the streets, in occupied buildings, and in closed dormitory rooms.

While drug abuse rates are decreasing in Europe, Britain has the highest number of deaths on the continent; in such a way that out of a total of 8,000 drug addicts in England, one in three dies due to excessive drug use (overdoses).

Drug-related deaths in Scotland are higher than any other European country.

Death and destruction caused by drugs. 

In the year 2015-2016.

Of course, there are significant differences in determining the approach. In Denmark, excessive consumption cases in drug consumption rooms, which I visited, were not uncommon; more than 800 cases were recorded last time. However, no one dies from excessive drug use. This country has been successful in controlling the mortality rate caused by drug use since 2011.

In fact, so far, no deaths have been reported in any of the 78 drug consumption rooms in Europe. Why is that? Nurses immediately inject the person with controlling medications, revive their condition, and inform the ambulance. This is while the mortality rate due to excessive drug use in other places is equal to 6%.

Anders Larsen, a chemist and social worker in a drug consumption room in Denmark, says: “These individuals are truly sick, they cannot stop using drugs all at once.” Larsen, during an experiment, injects a small amount of heroin powder under a microscope into the blood vessels of the individuals. “The only thing we can do is to make the experience of using drugs safer for these individuals, and if they decide to quit, we immediately refer them to addiction support services.”

In Denmark, visitors have 24-hour access to injection rooms and can receive clean needles for injection. Initially, there was concern that creating injection rooms would increase drug use, but in reality, this did not happen. Instead, this “scene of drug use” has historically changed in Copenhagen.

Before the opening of drug consumption rooms in 2012, more than 10,000 used needles were collected every week on the streets of Vesterbro, the meatpacking district in the capital of Denmark. This level of drug use in the city’s main hub – where users used to inject behind trash cans, on stairways, and on the streets – largely went unnoticed by authorities.

Currently, there are five health centers throughout the country where addicts to cocaine, heroin, and methadone are placed under clinical supervision. 7,500 employees of the “Drug Consumption Rooms” system in Denmark have provided care and supervision for over one million people in the past 6 years. Their services, along with assistance in housing programs and treatment plans, have led to a decrease in costs and damages. The main point is that many of the patients are marginalized individuals who have difficulty accessing and receiving treatment; individuals who may have no contact with non-addicts or government employees.

In Britain, pressure is increasing on the parliament and government to open the first drug consumption room in the city of Glasgow, where drug use has increased fivefold in the past 20 years. However, the government has repeatedly blocked any attempts to issue permits for the establishment of drug consumption rooms in Scotland. The reason for this opposition is concerns about the challenges that such a center may pose in terms of law enforcement and the potential for increased crime rates. The Home Office stated in a statement that there is no legal framework for the establishment of drug consumption rooms in Britain and no plans can be made to introduce them. A spokesperson for the department also emphasized that drug dependence should be prevented through treatment and rehabilitation. However, these services themselves are also decreasing. The addiction services, which recently saw a 26% increase in drug-related deaths in England between 2013 and 2016, condemned the policy of reducing the treatment budget by 18%.

According to Niam Istvood, executive director of the charity organization for drug information: “Drug consumption rooms have been functioning well throughout Europe over the past four decades and their effective role in attracting some of those who are more socially deprived and previously injected in public places and in a dangerous manner has been proven. Drug consumption rooms reduce the risk of fatal drug use, decrease injection by adolescents, and increase access to health and treatment services for those with a history of dangerous drug use.”

Martin Powell, from the Drug Policy Foundation, believes that although the British government acknowledges the potential benefits of drug consumption rooms, “it would rather see the most vulnerable and desperate citizens suffer and die for ideological reasons, but not allow the establishment of a drug consumption room in a city like Glasgow.” According to him, “this foundation has monitored most of the drug consumption rooms across Europe and has observed thousands of cases of excessive drug use in these rooms, without even one death occurring.”

In different countries in Europe, the legal situation of injection rooms varies. Germany and Switzerland changed their laws to allow for the establishment of drug consumption rooms. Spain did not need to change its laws for this purpose. However, in France, due to strict laws on drugs, the creation of safe spaces (in government hospitals in Paris and Strasbourg) is problematic and in conflict with existing laws. In Portugal, where drug consumption rooms are soon to be established, decriminalization regulations have already led to a significant decrease in deaths caused by drug use. Ireland and Belgium also have plans in this regard that will be introduced soon. In Denmark, services provided by a long-term struggle led by citizens and activists focused on improving public health were achieved. They were able to ultimately gain the support of the majority of society in this fight. On the day of the general elections in 2011 and through a civil disobedience action, a mobile ambulance in Copenhagen, run by volunteers, provided a sterile space for drug

Ivan Christiansen, who is currently working in one of these drug consumption rooms, says: “This issue was initially very controversial and there was real tension. Volunteer social workers were waiting for arrests to happen, but nothing happened.”

After a few weeks, the same second-hand ambulance – known as Fixelance – parked in front of the parliament to draw attention to the issue: presenting the first draft for creating drug consumption rooms. After a few months, the municipality requested volunteer workers to build the first permanent drug consumption room themselves. With the changes that were approved in the law in the summer of 2012, the necessary financial resources were also allocated for this purpose and as a result, permanent facilities were established for the purpose of setting up drug consumption rooms throughout Denmark.

These rooms are confusing spaces and conflicts arise in them. However, employees and visitors share interesting moments together; moments that bond them with stories, eating, and even common frustrations. Visitors who prefer to prepare their own materials can stay for 35 minutes in the smoking room and 45 minutes in the injection room.

One of the Muslim soldiers in the Bosnian war, after exhaling cigarette smoke, says: “I inject substances to numb my body and ease my pains. You can never imagine what I have seen.” Another one says that if he wasn’t here, he would be using drugs on the streets, and another, who is from Afghanistan and fled his country after the war in 2001, says: “It’s peaceful here and I’m not worried about attacks.”

A person who was addicted to heroin for years in Denmark says that those who go to drug consumption rooms are treated with “empathy and not judgment”. He remembers his own life story and says, “We were not judged here, we were taken care of.” He continues, “This place helped us to have control over our own lives.”

The employees’ perspective in these rooms is also shaped by their daily experience of interacting with clients. Seeing people who commit crimes to supply their drug habits and have to go to prison and then come out after their sentence, their perspectives have changed. Larson says, “What’s the point of sending people to prison when there’s no possibility for reducing harm; except that it’s even easier to get drugs there.” While sitting next to a man holding his heroin, Larson says, “People sharpen needles on the ground to make them sharper and tear their skin. My wish is to be able to give them clean and pure drugs. All these punishments are for nothing and the crime will happen again. The war on drugs will always lose.”

سلام دوست عزیز

Hello dear friend.

Note:

This article is a translation of an article with the same title that was published in The Guardian newspaper in November of last year.

Busby, M. (2018, November 21). How ‘fixing rooms’ are saving the lives of drug addicts.

The Guardian.

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