Netherland's bad experience with injecting rooms
In August 1999, drug expert Sharon Pollock went to the Netherlands and she found -
In Amsterdam, injecting rooms are a disaster with -
- Open street drug dealing
- No police activity against drug dealers
In Arnhem, at the first ever injecting center set up 10 years ago, giving heroin to 450 addicts -
- They have never got any addict off heroin
- Their only objective is to get addicts off the streets
- Police pick up addicts on the streets and take them to the center
- The center is open every day (it only closes 2 days a year)
- Addicts came at opening & left when the center closed at 6.00pm.
- After the center closed, the addicts then used heroin in the streets
- Center operators buy heroin for addicts from street drug dealers
- Heroin is illegal, but tax money is mainly used for buying heroin
- But for free heroin, addicts would have got off drugs
- The center allowed addicts to smoke as much heroin as they liked
DRUG ADVISORY COUNCIL COMMENTS-
We must oppose injecting rooms and push for court ordered detoxification & rehabilitation.
THE DRUG ADVISORY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA SUPPORTS-
More detoxification & rehabilitation that gets illicit drug users drug free.
Court ordered and supervised detoxification & rehabilitation.
Less illicit drug users, drug pushers and drug related crimes.
FACT SHEET M6
