Today the Joseph Rowntree Foundation released a report recommending safe drug houses for users. We asked our two work experience students to respond to the proposals. Tu Desomer-Chu starts the debate


"Heroin galleries will save lives"

The headline from the Metro newspaper this morning (23rd May). I for one can not make up my mind whether or not such galleries are a good idea, I mean users will be able to inject and smoke all sorts of drugs in "hygienic" and safe conditions accompanied by guards for supervision. This is promoting and advertising Class A and B drugs to young children, when surely we should be aiming to stop drugs completely. Even the Director of National Drug Prevention Alliance Peter Stocker said it was not a good idea and that we should be giving drug users a "pat on the back" for smoking drugs.

On the other hand, I can see the light about this, the government has been trying so "hard" to cut down on drug users in England but cant seem to do it, so creating these galleries would mean the users themselves will be staying in the rooms with other drug users, meaning that the citizens roaming the streets or walking around in their estate will not be sniffing the scent of weed or being cautious about stepping on a syringes. Also surveys shows that three quarters of people thought drugs were a problem in the area.

This idea is not exactly new, with about 65 projects running all around Europe including countries like Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Spain, Norway and Luxembourg. There are more projects in countries like Australia and Canada and is known to be saving lives in the countries.

What are your views?