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Drug consumption rooms: where next for the UK?
Neil Hunt, Senior Research Associate, The European Institute of Social Services, University of Kent, Director of Research for KCA
Abstract
Earlier in 2006 a scientific review and commissioned research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation led to an Independent Working Group chaired by Dame Ruth Runciman recommending the pilot evaluation of
DCRs within the UK. This paper will summarise the findings of the review and highlight the main recommendations before considering the key responses to the report and the issues that face people within local areas that are contemplating pilot implementations in response to local needs. The paper will particularly address a) the feasibility of pilot implementation in the current policy climate b) the necessity for local inter-agency partnerships c) the critical importance of operational policies which ensure that good
practice meets a 'duty of care' and legal obligations.
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Biography
Neil Hunt, MSc (Social Research) is an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the European Institute for of Social Services, University of Kent, Honorary Research Fellow with the Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, London and Director of Research for the treatment agency KCA.
A founding director and current Chair of the UK Harm Reduction Alliance, his work has covered issues including injecting and risk, understanding drug trends, peer influence and young people, human rights and drug user involvement. He developed the 'Break the Cycle' intervention to reduce injecting that has been disseminated nationally by the Department of Health.
He has completed various commissioned reviews of the evidence base for harm reduction and is a researcher on the 'QCT-Europe' project, which is examining the effectiveness of 'Quasi-Compulsory Treatments' such as DTTOs. Among his recent publications are the Beckley Foundation report Cannabis and mental health: responses to the emerging evidence and several technical reports on drug consumption rooms that contributed to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's report advocating their pilot evaluation in the UK.
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