In a press release, the National Academy of Pharmacy issues an unfavorable opinion on the experimentation of controlled drug use, or more commonly shooting rooms.
While the Parisian “shoot room” has still not opened its doors, Danièle Jourdain-Menninger, president of MILDT (the interministerial mission for the fight against drugs and drug addiction) announced in January 2014 that “the government was working on a legislation that would allow this room to be opened and a second or even a third consumption room in other French cities if the conditions are met ”.
Following this project to develop consumption rooms, the National Academy of Pharmacy opposes in a press release the experimentation with controlled injection rooms for “street drugs”. These shooting rooms are intended for precarious street drug addicts who could consume their own drugs in good hygienic conditions, accompanied by health personnel. They would be reserved for regular drug users say “hard” (cocaine, heroin and crack). Occasional consumers and minors would not be admitted.
An unfavorable opinion
The learned society recalls that “the rare studies rather favorable to this kind of experimentation concern the use of medicinal heroin and not that of street drugs” and that “Sweden has eliminated the injection rooms because of their unconvincing results ”.
She is worried “about the lack of data concerning the responsibility of doctors and public authorities in the event of a medical complication or criminal acts committed under the influence of injected drugs, such as road accidents. “
The National Academy of Pharmacy also considered that the shooting rooms offered no guarantee of the quality of the products injected which would prevent contamination by hepatitis C and HIV viruses.
She recalls that this project maintains addictions instead of favoring patient assistance. Unfavorable to the opening of shooting rooms, the National Academy of Pharmacy advocates rather “for greater patient safety, a strengthening of the resources allocated to treatment centers for drug addicts and addiction units. “
