Pubdate: Sun, 2 Dec 2007
Source: Sunday Herald, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Sunday Herald
Contact:  http://www.sundayherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/873
Author: Rachelle Money
Cited: International Drug Policy Consortium http://www.idpc.info
Cited: Scottish Drugs Forum http://www.sdf.org.uk
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?131 (Heroin Maintenance)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

SCOTLAND URGED TO BE BRAVE AND INTRODUCE DRUG CONSUMPTION ROOMS

Call to Modernise Approach to Heroin Use

THE UK'S former deputy drugs tsar Mike Trace has said Scotland needs 
to be more "brave and creative" and introduce controversial drug 
consumption rooms (DCRs) as part of its drug strategy.

Trace, now chief executive of the International Drug Policy 
Consortium, a non-governmental organisation, spoke to the Sunday 
Herald ahead of his first visit to Scotland. He will speak at the 
Scottish Drugs Forum's Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh on Tuesday 
about the implications of global drug policy on Scotland.

He said policy makers in developed Western countries such as England 
and Scotland "have to be much braver and more creative on following 
what would appear to make a bigger difference. They policy makers 
need to get off the fence."

He added: "If integrating our chaotic drugs users more in services 
with less stigma is the correct path, the sort of directions you 
should be going in is drug consumption rooms; whole community 
services that bring drugs users into the fold, instead of keeping 
them separate.

"We know that well-managed services of this type make a big 
difference and we don't implement them because we are concerned about 
looking like we are being too nice and liberal to drug users."

Trace has long been an advocate of harm-reduction services such as 
methadone prescriptions. He was deputy to the UK's first drug tsar, 
Keith Helliwell, and played a central role in the creation and 
implementation of the UK National Drug Strategy from 1997 to 2000. In 
his later role as head of demand reduction at the United Nations 
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), he was forced to resign after just 
eight weeks over allegations he was promoting a liberal drugs policy 
against the wishes of US donors.

UNODC promotes abstinence and condemns member states for implementing 
harm-reduction strategies such as DCRs, which have also become known 
as "shooting galleries".

Trace said Scottish policy makers "shouldn't be afraid of the UN". 
"If Scotland really wanted to do drug consumption rooms and heroin 
prescribing, it will get a visit from the UN, but it will be able to 
point to other countries which set a precedent."

Germany, Switzerland and Holland have all introduced DCRs in recent 
years, and found the number of overdoses and drug-related deaths fell.

Trace said there are "major weaknesses and problems in the UN's 
position on this". He also criticised the UN for not modernising its 
position on drugs.

"The UN agencies have been very irresponsible in repeatedly 
responding to countries who have implemented harm-reduction measures 
by criticising them for being too liberal. That's where the issue 
really comes to roost for a country such as Scotland in their room 
for manoeuvre to experiment with things like consumption rooms and 
heroin prescription," he said.

In Scotland there has long been debate over the merits of abstinence 
programmes and harm-reduction services, but Trace said he was 
concerned that the voices in the debate ringing the loudest are from 
"dinosaurs".

"It's not inconceivable for ministers to say if nothing works forget 
it, arrest people if they are caught with drugs and if they get HIV 
infection it's their problem.  That's what worries me about the 
current debate."

The Scottish Drugs Forum has advocated the use of DCRs and heroin 
prescription, but ministers have always rejected the idea.

Dave Liddell, director of SDF, said: "They need to be part of the 
provision but there's a bigger social issue around the fact that we 
have one of the biggest drug problems in Europe and that's because of 
the social problems."

He added: "I think people are very concerned with what the public 
will think. In many respects services are being planned on the basis 
of how it will look to the public, rather than the needs of the 
50,000 heroin using population."

Prof Neil McKeganey, head of drugs misuse at Glasgow University, said 
Trace's opinion was "utterly inappropriate" and that DCRs would 
worsen the situation.

"To me it is an utterly inappropriate advice. It is simply wrong for 
our government to take on a service that would make drug use easier."

A Scottish government spokesman said: "There are currently no plans 
to introduce heroin consumption rooms in Scotland. The prescribing of 
heroin is clearly not something that can be undertaken lightly as 
there are complex issues about security of supplies, safety of 
patients and around dispensing arrangements." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake