Legislation paving the way for supervised drug injection facilities sent to President
Laws to pave the way for supervised drug injection facilities have been sent to the President to be signed into law.
The legislation behind the new initiative finished its journey through the Seanad this afternoon.
Once the law is signed, the Minister for Health will start taking applications from groups who might want to run such a facility.
The Drugs Minister Catherine Byrne told the Seanad that facilities will give hope to people struggling with addiction.
"I believe those words are very important regarding the service that we are going to provide, into the future for people who inject on a daily basis.
"It's to give them hope, to open doors, but above all I believe to give them the opportunity to be able to come into a service that sees them as human beings, and will help them in their addiction into recovery as well," she said.
Minister Harris said “This Bill is a progressive step founded on a health-led, evidence-based approach to drug use and countering the effect that it has on drug users and our communities.
"All the international evidence shows that supervised injecting facilities have a positive impact for both and the passage of this Bill is an important milestone as part of the overall work of Minister Catherine Byrne and in the context of the National Drugs Strategy, which will be published shortly.”
- Provide an exemption for licensed providers whereby it is currently an offence to permit the preparation or possession of a controlled substance in premises;
- Exempt authorised users from the offence of possession of controlled drugs under certain conditions, when in the facility and with the permission of the licence holder;
- Enable the Minister to consult with the HSE, An Garda Síochána, or others on matters relating to a supervised injecting facility, including its establishment, on-going monitoring and review.
