Civil Liberties Union Calls For Drug Rooms

(MTI) – Instead of stopping a needle exchange scheme, Hungary needs drug rooms where intravenous drugs can be consumed under sterile conditions, a drug policy expert of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) said on Thursday.

Peter Sarosi said at an event marking the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking that setting up safe drug rooms could stop the appearance of “drug waste” in public areas, the proliferation of HIV and Hepatitis C and could also reduce the danger of overdose.

TASZ submitted a petition to Budapest’s Jozsefvaros district, as well as to other municipalities in Budapest and around Hungary to set up safe drug consumption rooms and implement a programme to promote drug prevention.

Sarosi said Budapest and especially the 8th district of Jozsefvaros are home to thousands of intravenous drug users and the drug problem significantly worsened in recent years as a result of the appearance of designer drugs. Whereas heroin users used to shoot the drug 3 or 4 times a day, the new types of drugs can be shot as many as 15 times a day, he said.

The Blue Point Foundation, an NGO that operates a needle and syringe programme in the 8th district, will close down in September 2014 because the local council made their activities impossible, Sarosi said.

Photo: www.hotdog.hu

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters