Oct 23rd, 2016, 09:04 PM

France Opens First Drug Injection Room In Paris

By Paige Hart
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons/JohnnyMrNinja
Drug users are now welcome to a new medically-supervised place to tend to their addictions.

France’s first legal injection room opened to the public Friday, October 14, in Paris’s 10th arrondissement near Gare du Nord; an area already well-known for its illegal drugs.

Drug addicts are welcome to this Salle de Consommation, or “shooting gallery,” to safely receive substitutes for illegal drugs such as heroin and crack. Aside from sterile injection kits, each visitor is also provided therapists, drug counselors, and medics.

 
The official logo for the Salle de Consommation. Image credit: salledeconsommation.fr

Supporters are optimistic this initiative will be a stepping stone to getting addicts off the streets of Paris and decreasing the national number of yearly drug-related fatalities. "This is a very important moment in the battle against the blight of addiction,” said France’s Health Minister Marisol Touraine, who, along with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo,  is responsible for the opening of this site.

The injection room is co-operated by the French government and Gaïa, a local addiction charity. However, France’s socialist administration is funding it completely, making it free to visitors. With an estimated 100-200 daily visitors, this injection room is expected to cost around 1.3 million Euros a year. “It’s a strong political response, for a pragmatic and responsible policy that brings high-risk people back towards the health system rather than stigmatizing them,” Touraine said.


Luxembourg Drug Consumption Room. Image credit: salledeconsommation.fr

A few of the main efforts of this safe place for drug users are to reduce fatal overdoses, the spread of disease through contaminated needles, and drug crime while increasing access to healthcare and social services along with the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

Although medically-supervised drug rooms are a new idea to France, many of their European neighbors—such as Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Spain—have been running such centers for years. In fact, France is the tenth country to open an injection room after the first was opened in 1986 in Bern, Switzerland


Visitor utilizing the first injection room in Bern, Switzerland. Image credit: salledeconsommation.fr

France's participation was, in contrast, a bit delayed— France’s right-wing republicans spent years in dispute with the government, as they fear fear this initiative will only perpetuate the current drug problem and undermine the work they have done to fix it. "We're moving from a policy of risk reduction to a policy of making drugs an everyday, legitimate thing. The state is saying 'you can't take drugs, but we'll help you to do so anyway," Paris politician, Philippe Goujon told the Le Figaro.

In a written statement, many conservative politicians expressed their concerns, saying, "The only acceptable policy remains helping people into ending drug usage.” In response, Touraine said that these safe places do not substitute the policies already in place. Rather, the goal is to target the marginalized outsiders who may not necessarily have access to adequate care for their addictions. In fact, a report released in May by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction about other European injection rooms presented evidence that they do have “an overall positive impact” on the surrounding communities, although the facilities’ effectiveness may be limited.


Map of open drug injection rooms around the world. Image credit: salledeconsommation.fr

Visitors must check in, but are not required to give their full or accurate name and can be assured that they will not be turned into the police. Anne Hidalgo said she feels "very moved and very proud because what's being done here is necessary, necessary for the people who are in complete disarray, because they know they have a door they can enter.” Despite this optimism, it seems that only time will tell if this space will truly help reduce the number of drug users in Paris.