There should be a common sense resolution to the issue of heroin injecting rooms which minimises harm to heroin users but also protects the public from crime. What we need is an enlightened but responsible response.
1) Why support injecting rooms?
Heroin injecting rooms:
- will prevent overdoses and help minimise harm;
- reduce pressure on ambulance and paramedic services that will free them up to attend other calls;
- reduce the number of used syringes that are left in public places;
- enable heroin users to be in contact with health services and to promote programs to help end heroin dependency
2) With rights comes responsibility
The use of, or withdrawal from, heroin is not an excuse for committing violent or property crime. Heroin does not stop you knowing right from wrong and you maintain responsibility for your behaviour.
We should not spend valuable police resources on those people who merely take heroin and don’t hurt others. We should offer these poor souls help to end what is a terrible existence.
We should however, protect the community from those who do the wrong thing and commit crime. Heroin users who commit violent crime or serious property crime should be held accountable and not be given a free pass.
The debate has been hijacked by those who only see one side of the issue. On the one hand there are many who want to take a “tough on drugs” stance. On the other side are those who refuse to hold accountable the minority of heroin users who commit crime; they wrongly excuse crime on the users “disease”.
If a heroin user steals a car or assaults someone, they should be properly identified as a criminal. If their crime is treated as a “disease” then the public is understandably going to want to take a “tough on drugs” stance against all people who take heroin.
Dependency on heroin can be thought of as a disease and we should show compassion and help those afflicted. But crime against others is not a disease. Criminals should be held accountable before the law.
For those interested in more information on the science behind:
- the basis for holding heroin users accountable for their behaviour;
- the reason why the vast majority of the population would not become addicted to heroin even if laws were relaxed
About Dr Michael Keane
Dr Michael Keane is a consultant anaesthetist and bioethicist. He is also a National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) funded researcher into illicit drugs.
He holds the following positions:
Lecturer in public health at Monash University
Researcher at Swinburne University’s Brain Sciences Institute
Researcher at the University of Adelaide
