Bordeaux will host the third lower-risk consumption room, which should open its doors at the end of 2017-beginning of 2018 at the Saint-André hospital.
It was anticipated, here it is officially confirmed: the third lower risk consumption room in France will open its doors in the city of Bordeaux. Until now, we knew that its mayor Alain Juppé was not particularly asking for the device, but he was not opposed to it either. Now that the ARS (Regional Health Agency) Nouvelle-Aquitaine has made its needs assessment, the project can finally start.
400 to 1,200 users
The ARS was commissioned to report on the needs in terms of user practices and the prevalence of drug use in the city. His report confirms the need to open this room. Between 400 and 1,200 drug users could constitute the active file of the future space managed by the association La CASE and by the CEID (Committee for the Study and Information on Drugs).
The chosen location is located at the Saint-André hospital, in the city center, in a dedicated and independent room. The absence of a direct neighborhood should avoid the fears aroused by SCMRs among residents, as we have seen in Paris. Preliminary discussions evoked rue Saint-Jean as the site for the new hall, but unfavorable reactions from residents prompted the determination of a safer place for the general public.
Triple objective
“The objective is threefold, specifies to Why actor Nicolas Brugère, City health assistant and professional doctor. The first step is to improve the state of health of injecting users by reducing their risky practices with the support of caregivers, and by reducing the risk of overdose. In addition, the system aims to limit comorbidities in this population, often suffering from associated pathologies (psychiatric disorders, hepatitis, HIV, etc.) – hence the hospital sector which has been chosen ”.
Finally, the SCMR will make it possible, as in Paris and Strasbourg, to address the most marginalized users. It is thus a question of “bringing them back to access to care, ensuring that they benefit from social protection and, in the long term, attempting to reduce consumption through care”.
Majority opiates
The ARS assessment confirms that there is no “open scene” for drug consumption in Bordeaux, like the Gare du Nord in Paris, for example. However, places of consumption do exist, whether they are squats or other places known to the police and medico-social workers.
“Users in Bordeaux consume mainly opiates (morphine sulphates), a little heroin, specifies Jean-Michel Delile, director of CEID. Cocaine in injected form comes second. We are observing an emergence of practices around (inhaled) crack, to which the future theater will have to respond – the project has not yet incorporated this dimension ”.
On July 4, 2017, CEID and CASE will have to make their common roadmap. The new SCMR will open at the end of 2017-beginning of 2018, specifies Nicolas Brugère. The municipality, with health professionals, is considering another risk reduction device, mobile this time: a bus that would meet users at the very places of consumption, according to the same logic as the room (supervision of injections , reduction of risky practices, screening, integration of users, etc.).
.