‘Injecting Parlors’ Discussed in Wales

Participants in a Welsh conference discussed radical approaches to fighting drug abuse, including prescribing heroin for addicts.

The national drugs conference included speakers from Switzerland, Ireland, Wales and England discussing anti-drug abuse programs in their countries and the effectiveness of controversial measures in the fight against drugs, the South Wales Echo reported Friday.

Not everybody will agree with some of the ideas being presented at the conference, but we have a duty to examine all interventions that could reduce the harm caused by misuse of substances to individuals and society, said Ifor Glyn, director of the Swansea Drugs Project.

Among the controversial measures discussed were heroin prescriptions for addicts and the creation of injecting parlors to provide a safe place for addicts to inject the substance.

Having clean and safe premises could help encourage people into treatment, reduce risks of blood-borne viruses and reduce the number of overdoses, Glyn said. Such provision has been successfully tried in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Luxembourg, Australia and Canada.