Summary/Abstract

France is opening its first Drug Consumption Room October 17, 2016 in Paris. Drug Consumption Rooms also know as Safe Injection Facilities have been operating for 30 yeras in Europe. Currently there are ninety sites in 9 different countries in Europe and one in Canada. 

Content

 Paris: Locals worried as safe drug injection site opens

An interview with Cedric Charvet, coordinator of a#DrugConsumptionRoom in Amsterdam and member of the INDCR after opening of the first DCR in France / Paris

France’s first ever drug consumption room (DCR) is set to open in Paris next week, beginning the rollout of similar harm reduction sites in other cities across the country.

Set in Lariboisière Hospital (above) in northeast Paris—an area that has reportedly witnessed high levels of problematic drug use—the DCR was inaugurated today and iRooms due to officially open its doors on October 17.

According to France Inter, the facility contains six injecting booths for people to use drugs intravenously, and an inhalation room for those who smoke. It will be open seven days a week from 1:30 – 8:30 pm, and will be run by the Gaia Association.

DCRs are professional healthcare facilities that provide people who use illicit drugs a safe space to inject and/or smoke (some centers, known as supervised injection facilities or SIFs, are only equipped to accommodate those who use intravenously). DCRs are well evidenced in preventing the spread of infectious diseases and combating the risk of overdose fatalities. In the three decades since the first facility opened in Switzerland—there are currently over 90 worldwide—there has not been an overdose death recorded at one of these sites.

Harm reduction advocates have been pushing for a DCR in Paris for over a decade, though had to wait until April last year to be given the green light—when France’s National Assembly voted in favor of legislation allowing the creation of DCRs. The legislation permits Paris and at least two other cities to open DCRs for a six-year pilot period.

Strasbourg is reportedly set to follow Paris in opening a site next month, with Bordeaux also lined up to run a pilot program in the future.

In spite of the efficacy of DCRs in addressing the health needs of extremely marginalized groups, numerous mayors across France have refused to implement them in their cities. As TalkingDrugs reported last year, Marseille and Nice were key among these.

Edward Fox is the Policy and Communications Manager of Release, the UK-based center of expertise on drugs and drugs law, and oversees their website TalkingDrugs. He previously worked as an editor and journalist in Colombia, specializing in drug policy and production and US-led counter narcotics efforts in the region. A version of this post first appeared onTalkingDrugs.