Report backs PCC call for drug rooms

An independent review has backed the case for DCRs, which would allow heroin users to inject themselves in comfort using clean needles with medical assistance nearby.

It was commissioned by West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson, who wants drug addicts to be treated as medical patients rather than criminals.

The report says DCRs would reduce the "cost, crime levels and harm" associated with drugs.

But it warned that the law was "the biggest obstacle" to overcome, with no framework currently in place allowing junkies to take Class A drugs.

Concerns among the public and politicians was another stumbling block according to the report.

It said: "There are currently no DCRs in the UK, their growth and potential having been stilted in part due to nervous politicians at both local and national levels, a legal framework which does little to provide comfort for users, staff, regulatory agencies and law enforcement and the wider general public who understandably show cause for concern."

Dudley South MP Mike Wood is among a number of MPs to question MR Jamieson's plan.

The Conservative MP said he disagreed with the report's findings.

"I'm not sure that politicians are nervous, but an awful lot of people in Dudley and the rest of the Black Country are extremely nervous about the idea of drug consumption rooms in their towns," he said.

"I think we need to be focusing on reducing drug consumption, not facilitating it.

"So much crime is driven by the demand for illegal drugs, and the evidence suggesting that drug consumption rooms make a difference to reducing that is uncertain."

The report concluded that DCRs could control the spread of HIV and Hepatitis, and "help to engage vulnerable individuals into treatment and other support services".

It also said they could reduce the West Midlands' estimated annual bill associated with drug abuse of £1.4bn.

Mr Jamieson is planning to develop a business case to launch a DCR pilot site in the region.