National Drugs Strategy Minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin will use his keynote speech to the London School of Economics IDEAS Forum today to confirm that Ireland's first supervised injecting room will open next year in Dublin followed by roll outs shortly after in Cork, Galway and Limerick.
Legislative obstacles to the opening of injecting rooms will be removed by the new Misuse of Drugs Act that's currently being drawn up.
"We very much look forward to the LSE’s policy workshop and to discussing these important issues with our international colleagues," enthuses the Ana Liffey Drug Project's Tony Duffin who's among those who've briefed the Minister. "We greatly welcome the interest members of the international drug policy community have taken in the introduction of Medically Supervised Injecting Centres in Ireland, and hope that their interest encourages Ireland to continue on the path Minister O Ríordáin is leading us on.
"I am also aware that a General Election must take place by 8th April 2016. In this regard, I call on all parties and independents to prioritise addressing Ireland’s drug problems by committing to implementing empathic, evidenced and effective drug policies like Medically Supervised Injecting Centres.”
Minister O Ríordáin started the day by dropping into the House of Commons to meet Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat Leader who supports across the board decriminalisation of drugs in the UK - and by extension Ireland.
“The recent leak of a UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) document which explicitly highlights the ineffectiveness of, and the damage caused by, criminalising people who use drugs shows the timeliness of a workshop aimed at charting new drug strategies in Ireland and the UK," says Dr. John Collins, coordinator of the LSE IDEAS International Drug Policy Project. "In Ireland we’ve seen the emergence of a mature and evidence-oriented discussion which avoids much of the rhetoric and scaremongering which characterised the rush to repressive policies in the past. The creation of medically supervised injecting centres would be a step forward for Irish drug policies. However, I would hope the debate does not stop there. The provision of medicalised heroin as treatment for long term users in the UK has been shown as highly cost effective at reducing health, crime and social costs of drug use in recent medical trials. However such innovative approaches remain under-utilised in the UK and internationally. Further, as numerous international health organisations, including WHO, highlight: decriminalisation of consumption should be implemented as part of a comprehensive strategy to reducing the harms of drugs and drug use. These are issues we will be discussing at the LSE on November 2nd with the Irish Minister.”
Having previously reported on the success of Australia's first supervised injecting centre in Sydney, the current issue of Hot Press finds us travelling to Vancouver where the InSite facility has helped to significantly reduce the city's overdose, HIV infection and first responder call out rates.
More on the Minister's speech as we get it.