FYI: This article is for an audience of people who don’t use drugs. How do your experiences and views relate and differ? This is an article from  England where they use the term Drug Consumption Rooms, which can mean OPS, SIS, Supervised Consumption sites.

5 Reasons Why Drug Consumption Rooms Benefit People Who Don’t Use Drugs

“Fortunately, even for those without any compassion or interest in the welfare of people who use drugs, there are still many ways in which Drug Consumption Rooms [DCR] will improve society as a whole.”

1. DCRs ensure safer streets …
2. DCRs reduce the spread of disease …
3. DCRs improve access to emergency services …
4. DCRs can reduce crime …
5. DCRs help people integrate into the legitimate economy … They provide a space to address structural inequalities such as poverty or homelessness, and can link people up to broader physical and mental health services, all factors which can and do keep people on the margins. The service link up DCRs provide can contribute positively toward bringing vulnerable people back into society.
6. DCRs save lives…

Across all  Ten countries that have implemented them, and all the different models of implementation, not a single person has died of a drug overdose in a DCR.

Opponents of DCRs assert that we should focus on approaches of drug-free recovery and rehabilitation, rather than allowing drug use.

While successful approaches for some people, recovery and rehabilitation must not be the only options. It is undeniable that some people will use drugs no matter what politicians, police, or health professionals are telling them to do. The best we can do is ensure that they are as safe as possible when they use drugs, and support them if they eventually choose to reduce their use or abstain.

This is why DCRs matter: you can’t recover if you’re dead.

//www.talkingdrugs.org/drug-consumption-rooms-benefit-all-of-society

Drug consumption rooms operate legally in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Norway, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Belgium, and Mexic