German
Cabinet Approves Plan For Junkie Centres Source: Associated
Press (28 July 1999)
ref:
September 99 Heroinsight
WORRIED
ABOUT A NATIONAL rise in drug-related deaths, Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder's Cabinet approved a bill Wednesday
that would allow states to set up centres where heroin
addicts could go for a safe fix. Christa Nickels,
the government's drugs policy adviser, said the proposed
law would clear up a legal grey area for street workers
who `stand with one leg in jail when they provide
survival help'. She noted that the number of deaths
related to consumption of illegal drugs rose to 798
in the first half of 1999, compared to 735 in the
same period last year. But in Frankfurt, which has
experimented with drug centres and methadone clinics,
the number of drug-related deaths has dropped from
183 in 1991 to only 44 cases in 1995, she said. The
proposal sets federal standards for so-called `junkie
centres', but leaves the decision whether to set them
up to local governments in each of Germany's 16 states.
It still must be approved by parliament. Opposition
conservatives criticised the plan Wednesday as dangerous
for young people, who they said might misinterpret
the centres as signifying official acceptance of drug
use.
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