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If supervised injecting facilities had been open sooner, my health would not be as bad as it is now, many of my friends might still be alive and maybe we’d all be off of drugs too?
Who knows, but I know I wish it wasn’t like this – we need help.
This is the voice of Aidan, an Ana Liffey Drug Project service user. He’s been using drugs since he was a child. Now, he’s in his mid-30s, and he believes supervised injection facilities (SIFs) could help him turn his life around.
“I think that when there is somewhere safe for people to go and inject they will use it – I will use it.
It can’t open soon enough.
To raise awareness of the importance of supervised injection facilities (SIF), the Ana Liffey Drug Project is teaming up with Humans of Dublin to document the lives of drug addicts through photographs and their experiences.
There has been some opposition from some businesses and residents who fear it would be detrimental to an area if these centres were to open up there.
Humans of Dublin, a photography project which shares everyday people’s stories and photographs, will be speaking to those affected by drug use in an effort to ‘break down barriers’ between the public and drug users.
Some of these people include Brigid who lost her daughter to addiction twelve years ago, and JM who works with addicts on the front line everyday.
All these people have one thing in common: the belief that the introduction of supervised injecting facilities will benefit not just drug users, but local businesses and other members of the public.
According to Aidan:
“I know a lot of people who inject around the streets of Dublin’s city centre. We are all at risk each and every day. Injecting yourself in an alleyway is degrading and people will come inside, but where can we go right now? Nobody is allowed to take us in.”
Why are they effective?
SIFs reduce the harm associated with injecting drug use. They are supervised spaces where people can inject drugs in a clean and hygienic setting off the street. They also allow volunteers to reach out and offer further support to those suffering from serious drug addiction.
SIFs are a widely recognised response to injecting drug use, and are successfully employed in a number of countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada.
There are at least 3,000 injecting drug users in Dublin with about 400 openly injecting in the city each month.
Humans of Dublin
Peter Varga, the photographer behind Humans of Dublin, said he’s delighted to get involved.
Working with Humans of Dublin, I see every day that people are losing basic human connections. We tend to create barriers between us and them to protect ourselves, thinking that this will never happen to us.
“Many people have little empathy for drug users because they use illegal substances in the first place. People believe that if drug users really wanted to, they could just simply stop taking drugs. Such attitudes show how little we understand about the nature of addiction.”
Tony Duffin, director of the Ana Liffey Drug Project agreed, saying that people who use drugs are stigmatised and exposed to life threatening risks on a daily basis.
“Injecting is the most risky way of taking drugs. Injecting drugs in public increases those risks. People who inject drugs in the public domain do so in a hurried manner – often amongst filth and human excrement.
People who do this are like you and me, but something in their lives has crushed them.
“The many people that I have met who do this – they don’t want to be injecting in public. The shame they feel is palpable and it inhibits them from making positive changes. The health consequences they suffer are significant.”
He says that he hopes this campaign will help people connect with the human stories behind the problem of public injecting.
“Of course, public injecting impacts on everyone negatively, not just drug users. It’s not good for drug users, for the general public, for business, for anyone. The delivery of Supervised Injecting Facilities in Dublin City Centre will reduce the need to inject in public and improve the situation for us all.”
You can read more about Aidan’s story on the Humans of Dublin website here.
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This facility is badly needed. I work in the Stoneybatter area of Dublin where both young and not so young, men and women openly inject every day. I park my car in a car park that services a number of small businesses and most evenings there is someone crouched against the wall of the building openly injecting. Alot of the time, they will apologize for doing this and while I have never felt threatened, it is a frightening scene to witness. Sometimes needles are left on the ground and the caretaker for the building has to clean these up. There are many children living beside this car park and a playschool and playground is within view of the area where individuals are injecting. This problem is not going to go away, no matter how hard our government tries to sweep it under the carpet and yes we can complain about taxpayers money being put into such facilities for “junkies” and “individuals who make no contribution to society”, but the fact is, it’s happening right under our noses every minute of every day. Perhaps if we had SIFs in place, some lives might be saved and individuals who really want to get clean might stand a better chance.
@DeeM: well said deem and what should be unanimously uncomfortable ,we’ll still b in a situation wher we’ve blood and faeces near open injecting until we have a safe supervised haven.
@DeeM: well said deem and what should be unanimously uncomfortable ,we’ll still b in a situation wher we’ve blood and faeces near open injecting until we have a safe supervised haven.
@DeeM:
Agree, this should have been done years ago, this issue I suppose is where to put the center, how about having a center in a couple of the city center hospitals.
The problem with heroin use in this country is that we encourage it – free needles, Guards ignoring the fact it’s illegal, homeless shelters being an oasis for dealers and users and now cosy rooms to inject and have staff standing by if you overdose – what a joke.
Yes actually, it’s much better if there is staff or a volunteer nurse standing by in case someone overdoses. That way they might get the care they need instead of being left for dead on the street.
For too long drug addiction has been seen only as a crime, when clearly the war on drugs has been a losing battle for decades.
It’s about time we tackled these problems progressively rather than dismissing addicts as worthless junkies. Your lack of understanding aligns with that of much of the public, and while your disgust isn’t completely difficult to understand, if you knew anything about these people’s early lived you’d change your tune.
Addiction doesn’t happen by choice or accident, but the level of physical or sexual abuse so many addicts have suffered which then drove them to drugs is unbearable, and so many would have had parents with alcoholism and addiction problems too so bad no support structure growing up in awful inner city housing conditions.
Just don’t be so quick to judge and have empathy for these people and understand how we as a society can help turn their lives around and also make our streets cleaner and safer for all.
*lives *had
Complete and utter and boll*x Dan and judging by your comment you have no experience of working with addicts, Ireland had a policy of ignoring addicts and adopting an abstinence approach towards dealing with them. Guess what happened? HIV spread like wildfire through the inner city. Heroin isn’t like some sort of irritating habit like biting your nails, it’s an all consuming physical addiction and and overcoming such an addiction is extremely difficult.
Yes I’m sure people will say why did they take it in the first place, well guess what things aren’t easy in the world outside of your comfy ivory tower Dan, people have abusive parents or no parents at all, people have mental illnesses, people are vulnerable for a whole host of reasons and are easy prey for dealers. You should really make a trip out into the real world sometime Dan, it’s not pretty but it’s enlightening.
@Fiachra – I’ve been working with addicts for fifteen years and the general public haven’t a clue of the dangers of working with addicts (heroin).
People haven’t a clue of how staff are expected to collude with this behaviour in the name of “harm reduction”.
Really Dan you’re a healthcare professional, who disagrees with harm reduction? Tell me what area of healthcare do you work in and why is it after your 15 years of working with heroin addicts that you think we shouldn’t adopt a treatment approach?
Your even opposed to clean needles and halting the spread of HIV. Your stance seems to be to go backwards to the policies which if anything fueled the heroin and HIV epidemic, make it illegal, ignore the addicts and the causes and throw them into jails, which by the way are crawling in drugs. These policies have failed time and time again.
I don’t disagree with harm reduction, that would be foolish.
I do disagree with enabling breaking the law and covering it up.
You’re now claiming that you don’t disagree with harm reduction yet in your first comment you claimed providing clean needles and having medical staff on standby to prevent overdoses is encouraging use when in fact both those policies are pillars of harm reduction in dealing with heroin use.
By the way you didn’t answer my question in what capacity have you been working as healthcare professional with addicts for 15 years?
@Fiachra – there are many forms of harm reduction as anyone in the sector will know and needles is just one of them.
“Healthcare professional” is your label remember, I work in homeless services so I do know what I’m talking about.
You might work in homeless services but that doesn’t make you an expert on whether or not to provide treatment for addicts, seeing as you don’t have any form of medical background.
By the way what are these other forms of harm reduction? You seem to be talking about the Gardaí taking a tougher stance, what does that entail more time in drug infested prisons? The guards can’t be in every park corner, in every junkie squat, in every house? What are these other forms of harm reduction you suggest?
@Fiachra – it may surprise you to learn that project workers and care assistants who work in homeless services have no medical training apart from first aid.
Other forms of harm reduction apply to other addictions and service users which are part of care planning.
@Fiachra – at no time did I claim to be an expert but I do have the experience which goes a long way.
That is now two labels you’ve put on me.
It’s degrading to inject in an alley way- I have heard it all now. Why stop at injecting rooms? It’s discriminatory against other drug users. When are they opening cocaine rooms? Weed rooms? All the while people who are sick through no fault of their own are lying on trolleys in hospital corridors due to lack of funding. But as long as junkies get free needles its all good
Brilliant point, f**k everyone, there’s only one kind of need, am I right? Let’s go through those hospital corridors and see who has heart disease due to diet and lifestyle, poorly managed diabetics, smokers and anyone else we deem fully responsible , F**k em out. These people are coming from
Areas of massive desperation and poverty where drug use is encountered everyday and is normal. There’s also a massive issue now in. Multi generational drug use in families.
Totally agree with you niamh ryan. I’ve heard it all when the government are going to open centres for people to inject an illegal drug while the health care system is not adequate.
It must be interesting to live in such privilege that you can’t empathise with an individual born in a situation where drugs are prevalent and there is a systemic barrier blocking your path out. Offer someone a hand and they can surprise you, getting an individual into a safe setting for injecting means a level of mutual trust being developed and more receptiveness to future help.
People on hospital bed, diabetes and smokers don’t hold needles to people’s throats to feed there addiction. Diabetes patients you can be sure the majority paid there taxes and these bums never worked a day in their lives
Also there are plenty of ways out in this country if you choose the right path. But you have too choose it . Do gooders making excuse doesn’t help anyone.
FYI to everyone. There are different types of diabetics, mainly 2 types. Type 1 diabetics have this condition through absolutely no fault of their own. Nothing they could have done to not get type 1 diabeties. Type 2 diabetes on the other hand is not looking after yourself with diet etc.
Type too Diabetes is said to be hereditary but its now known that it is also brought on quicker or exasperated through poor diet.
A life of privilege? Don’t make me laugh. I work hard to pay my bills and to keep a roof over my head. No silver spoon no college education. Just a determination to end up better than where I came from. The simple truth is there is not an unlimited about of money in the health service. And if these injection centres were to open the money would have to be taken from other more vital services
@Niamh – well said.
theres an injection center a block away ..its lashing rain will an addict inject were they are or walk to the center unless theres lots of them addicts will inject were they are.
Very very one sided article, no voice from the people whom disagree with the SIF’s. I agree with them but it would be nice to hear what the opposition have to say. Two sides to every story.
@Dan Keane. What’s your suggestion then?
@Dee – my suggestion is that Gardai take a tougher stance on illegal drugs and their use.
My suggestion is that society does not make it okay to take illegal drugs.
That homeless services do not create safe houses for heroin use and sale.
I agree something needs to be done but there are many more important issues in the Health service to be dealt with first before people who made bad choices can be looked after.
Should the obese/over weight, drinkers, people who eat red meat at three meals, smokers, people who don’t exercise etc all be put to the back of the list as well ?
Headline needs proof-reading.
I’m sorry but I completely disagree with the opening of this centre! I think it’s an absolute disgrace that heroin users get to roam the streets completing their drug deals,going to ‘shoot up’ wherever and whenever they like,being an absolute pain to the city centre community that I live and work in!and now the government and people want to glorify this regime with supporting it with a clean and safe environment?! People are afraid to actually walk the streets of Dublin because of the efforts heroin users will go to to actually get their next fix and why everyone is ignoring this here is beyond me! Their should be a complete and utter no tolerance approach from the Garda and people of Ireland if there was any sense or resource to do such a thing ! People fall into drugs,their families from good and bad and from desperate and horrific times,some people mightn’t be as strong as others to say no but like we all see day in and day out the effects of what can happen to people on drugs,it’s not like nobody was warned,just stupid people making stupid decisions and that’s all it comes down to!
Audrey, these will go a long way towards fixing the problems caused by widespread drug addiction. If you want fewer addicts and fewer problems then you should be in favour of this. The effectiveness of injection centres is proven.
Thought it was due to open by January but of course isntt as with Ireland ,you can always rely on one years delay-minimum.
People read an article on the journal and suddenly are experts on drug addiction and harm reduction.
The war on drugs is not working. It needs to be tackled differently. It works in plenty of other countries.
Anyone see the Russell brand video where the same crack addict is repeatedly arrested and rearrested for being in a crack house. The system is failing her massively. It’s wrong and it needs to change.
That’s 12 months away !
Thumbs up if you read the quotes in a strung out junkie voice, thumbs down if you didn’t.
I believe injection rooms are badly needed here in Ireland but the manner in which they are being brought to Ireland, even if it does happen… but to be honest its no better then putting a band aid on a bullet wound so to speak. Addiction is a multi layered and complex illness with the actual abuse of the substance is a mere symptom. In order to tackle the root cause we need to increase the number of detox beds (so few currently exist), mental health services and housing. We also need to intervene earlier in at risk areas. Beyond this we need to address the justice system in Ireland. It is here that we constantly see mistemener nusance crimes that escellate over time to violent crimes to feed a habit. Intervention here at an early stage here can perhaps prevent a further spiral into addiction and crime. At the end of the day, an injection centre is too late and merely hides a much larger personal and social issue in Ireland.
What exactly is the hold up, Harris promised when splitting the health bill in May that the legislation would be introduced by Autumn 2016. It’s now winter and no sign off the legislation or mention of how the charity regulator is getting on with all his new staff and Kelly up and running against with another attempt to profit by charity work.Those who foretold in May that Harris’s real agenda was to remove injecting centres have being proved right. The next child that gets infected by a discarded needle in any public park will be because the health minister failed in his duty of care. Only the media would believe that anything will be in place by the end of 2017, May as well said 2054 when we finish paying the promissory note for bankers. But that’s what people voted for, more years of partying in Dáil Éireann by a few while sociality moves backwards. It should be illegal for politicians to make promises because nothing will ever change. It will end up costing the taxpayer more in the long run for not tackling this problem now.
Facilitating people to kill themselves with poison. Heroin destroys millions of lives every year. This supervised injection centre merely enables users and doesn’t deter them. Take a young adult to a dirty grimey alleyway and show them the real face of heroin addiction. Creating a safe haven for a life destroying drug does the opposite. Yet when a bill to legalise marijuana was proposed “gateway drug” was screamed from the roof tops.
Let’s be clear here build it they will come, make it they will take it. Drugs support the economy on a grand scale doctors,police,clinics,judges and so. It’s never a war on drugs wars get won wars end. I don’t want to see any one inject or die from HIV nor does my 12 year old who finds a dirty spike on a bus
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