Feasibility study on drug consumption rooms in Belgium

Research Period

2017

Financing

Federal Science Policy

Researchers

Louis FAVRIL

Pierre SMITH

Laurens VAN PUYENBROECK

In collaboration with: Freya Vander Laenen (coordinator - UGent), Brice De Ruyver (UGent), Tom DECORTE (UGent), Jessica De Maeyer (HoGent), Pablo Nicaise (UCL) and Dagmar Hedrich (EMCDDA).

Keywords

Drug consumption rooms, feasibility, Belgium

Abstract

Worldwide, harm reduction strategies constitute an important pillar of a comprehensive drug policy. European countries have been converging on a core of drug policy options aimed at reducing harms for many years, and in several European countries (e.g., Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark and most recently France), drug consumption rooms (DCR) have been implemented and became an integrated component of low-threshold services offered within drug treatment systems. Despite their well-documented effectiveness in addressing drug-related harms, DCRs remain controversial and their use is not universally accepted. Nonetheless, calls for first implementation or scale-up are increasing worldwide. At present, Belgium does not provide these facilities to its drug using population, and research on this topic is limited at national level. To this end, in order to fill this knowledge gap, the current study on DCRs in Belgium aims to explore its feasibility in five major cities: Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Liège and Charleroi.

Valorisation

VANDER LEANEN, Freya, NICAISE, P., DECORTE, T., DE MAEYER, J., DE RUYVER, B., SMITH, P., VAN PUYENBROECK, L., FAVRIL, L. (2018). Feasibility study on  drug consumption rooms in Belgium. Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO).