CALL FOR SUPERVISED VENUE FOR ADDICTS

A premises where drug addicts could inject drugs under supervision
should be set up in Dublin city, a report recommends.

The study on providing services for homeless drug users says the
establishment of a consumption room would minimise the amount of harm
caused by people who use intravenous drugs on the streets.

The report also recommends the establishment of a hostel for drug
users in the city - a proposal which has already been sanctioned in
the pounds 180 million action plan on homelessness in Dublin launched
last month by the Taoiseach.

The research, Working Towards Inclusion, will be launched today at a
conference hosted by the Dublin Simon Community and the Merchants'
Quay Project, one of the city's largest drug-treatment centres.

Mr Tony Geoghegan, director of the Merchants' Quay Project, said
Ireland has one of the highest rates of drug-related deaths in the
EU, with 86 in 1999.

"The European experience has shown that consumption rooms reduce the
numbers of drug-related deaths, including overdoses, particularly
among homeless drug users who are more chaotic and injecting in
unhygienic conditions on the streets," said Mr Geoghegan.

He said advocating a consumption room was not condoning drug use, but
was a "pragmatic health-wise approach to it".

Consumption rooms in Germany, Switzerland and Holland operate on a
drop-in basis, with supervisors on hand and clean needles available.

Fifteen heroin users sleeping rough interviewed for the research said
they favoured the setting up of a consumption room.

The Government's multimillion-pound national drugs strategy published
last month does not consider such harm reduction measures to be
warranted. However, it says the situation should be kept under review
and the results of research monitored.

Mr Geoghegan estimates that up to 200 addicts are homeless at any one
time. There are an estimated 13,000 heroin addicts in Dublin.

Today's report, which also surveyed existing accommodation for
homeless people in Dublin, makes detailed recommendations on how a
short-term hostel for up to 20 drug users would operate.

Dublin Corporation is looking for a premises for such a service,
which will be run by the Merchants' Quay Project and Dublin Simon
Community.