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Month: October 2019

Revising UK drug policy

Revising UK drug policy

Notwithstanding that the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee was constrained to limit its inquiry, its short Report “Drugs policy” (First Report of Session 2019–20: 23 Oct 2019) [Link] provides further support (if such were needed) that: (i) there is “clear need for evidence-led policy on drugs”, (ii) “Holistic, non-judgemental harm reduction approaches are needed which facilitate access to services”, and (iii) (among other matters) that on-site drug checking and “Drug Consumption Rooms should be introduced on a pilot basis in areas of high need, accompanied by robust evaluation of their outcomes”.  The Committee urged the Government and other policy makers “not to shy away from the lessons from Portugal and Frankfurt, but to take a harm reduction approach and implement the recommendations set out in this report without delay” [p.25].
DCRs have long been of interest to this commentator: see [Link], noting certain legal issues that relate to them [Link].