Police station vending machine to dispense clean needles
North Wales Police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom is backing a scheme to put the UKs first vending machine dispensing clean needles outside a police station.
North Wales Police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom is backing a scheme to put the UKs first vending machine dispensing clean needles outside a police station.
The force are proposing to make a planning application to the local council to get approval for the £10,000 machine at Colwyn Bay police station.
Mr Brunstrom told Police Professional: This proposal is in the interests of the public and is designed specifically to save lives. The problem of drug abuse will not diminish by pretending it does not exist.
The idea has been attacked by local charity Touchstones12, which provides drug rehabilitation programmes and promotes an abstinence policy for recovering addicts,
Danie Strydom, director of the charity, said: What`s next? The chief constable standing on the street handing out free bags of heroin?
He is famous for enforcing the speed laws, but what about enforcing the law against drug misuse?
The Welsh Assembly spends £2.2m on substance misuse in north Wales and just £15,000 keeping people clean.
The machine will be paid for, emptied and refilled by the Welsh Ambulance Trust.
Martin Barnes, chief executive of drugs charity DrugScope, said: Needle exchanges have been effective in terms of reducing blood borne viruses and reducing substantially the number of needles discarded in local communities.
The question is whether or not schemes such as these can work in isolation, as effectively as those based in drop-in centres. We understand, however, that there is a lack of needle exchange provision in the area, so in that context, we welcome this as a positive initiative.
News of the new scheme comes as a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report reveals that Britain has a greater level of serious drug abuse than any other country.
A Home Office spokesman told the Daily Mail: Levels of use of Class A drugs in Britain are stable. Drug-related crime is falling. Increasing quantities of drugs are being seized, and record numbers of people are getting treatment.