Negotiations on the subject are barely closed in Parliament when the date has already been announced: after much procrastination, experimentation with lower risk consumption rooms (SCMR), say “shoot rooms” will take effect. Paris (near the Lariboisière hospital) and Strasbourg will be the experimental sites in the first half of 2016. The city of Bordeaux should then take over later this year.
The opening of assisted injection rooms in these towns marks the start of an experimental phase which should last six years. The wish of the Minister of Health Marisol Touraine, defended since 2013, was adopted by the National Assembly and the Senateat first reading. The text is currently at the end of discussion in Parliament.
The SMCRs are “spaces supervised by professionals to ensure a framework of secure use for injecting drug users in hygienic conditions avoiding the risk of infection”, according to the Ministry of Health. The supporters of these rooms see them as a way to limit risky behavior and the dangers associated with injecting hard drugs (overdoses, transmission of HIV and / or hepatitis C, etc.) among drug addicts.
A social debate
From the start, shooting rooms have been the subject of a lively debate among politicians but also within public opinion, shared on the interest and legitimacy of setting up these places, which have already been set up. among our European neighbors such as Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain.
The arguments of the defenders rebound the complaints of the opponents. They fear in particular a trivialization of drugs and an increase in addictions. It’s a safe bet that the experiment announces the resumption of the match.
>> To read also: What’s the problem with shooting rooms?
The National Academy of Pharmacy unfavorable to shooting rooms
Shooting room: the benefits of supporting drug users
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