Heroin 'shooting galleries' praised

Tuesday, 15 September 2009 11:55 AM

By Ian Dunt

A controversial scheme assessing the merits of legal heroin 'shooting galleries' is expected to receive warm praise tomorrow after a four-year study into their effects.

The glowing report could see the government implement a formal project, potentially putting a gallery in every town.

An interim report by the trial team found impressive results followed from the pilot project in three clinics around south London.

The average number of crimes committed by addicts dropped from 40 a month to six. About a third of addicts stopped buying street heroin altogether, while most of those who continued did so far less often.

The UK shooting galleries differed from those in many other countries, which usually provide a space to inject the drug, but not the drug itself.

The pilot, however, provided the heroin [diamorphine] to the users, at the cost of £15,000 a year per user.

"This trial has had astonishing effects on crime and the use of street heroin, and could provide the key both to dramatic reductions in theft, burglary and robbery and to cuts in the prison population," said Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne.

"This treatment is a little more than a third the cost of a prison place, which is where most of these addicts currently end up after inflicting massive harm on their communities."

Criticism of the government's National Treatment Agency, which will almost certainly push for an expansion of the scheme tomorrow, has been fierce, with many groups questioning the use of taxpayers' money on addicts.

Rolling out the scheme would also be politically problematic for the government, no matter how successful the results, given the likely reaction of tabloids and opposition parties.

Tags:
• domestic policy
,
• drugs
,
• policing and crime