Dramas? Let drug users have their pills tested

Gent A dead man, a feestvierder in a coma, a dancing with international reputation that the doors must close, and a lot of reputation damage for our town. For analysis and effective solutions after a few eventful months in Ghent, knocking us to the scientists. “We still have no grip on the drugs phenomenon”, it sounds. “Gent should now be the pioneering record.”

“A drug-free world does not exist, history has shown”, says Steven Debbaut. He is a criminologist and spokesperson for Smart On Drugs, a citizens ' movement that calls for a different, expert drug policy. “Ghent has always been recognized. Drugs are viewed here as a social phenomenon, not something that you have to cut it off, but something that you need to view from a gezondheidsperspectief.” Our city harvest for many years of praise for the current drugs policy. Want expertes Charlotte Colman and Freya Vander Laenen is absolutely stress. “It is also apparent from the literature,” says Vander Laenen. “Gent works on the basis of a diverse, integrated steering, with a leader in the person of the drugcoördinator. There is also an extensive network of care services is active in Ghent. Currently sitting around the table for a new plan for the coming years.”

“Nevertheless, local administrations, such as Ghent, with a limited playground,” explains Steven Debbaut. “Cities are on the field facing all kinds of problems in the drugssfeer that are not solved.” Concrete: drug-related crime, occasional users who may be punished, few places in the help... or a series of overdoses in the Compass Club. “Because of the outdated drug legislation you can not do much else than the facts after run,” adds Tom Decorte. “I'm not against a disco or a pub to temporarily close because there are too many drugs to be found. But we all know that that actually is not a solution to the problem really to address or resolve. It will, of course, just move. We already know that long. You connect one place, elsewhere the same problems. But nevertheless, there are accidents, and such decisions are always taken.”

We all know that one disco or one café close to the problems will not solve

Tom Decorte

Twenty years ago, even though revelers disposed with intoxication. In the meantime, the nightlife, however, large steps have been made. There is a lot more efforts in terms of prevention, and on the so-called ‘harm reduction’. “That refers to harm reduction measures for those who still drugs,” explains criminologe Charlotte Colman. “Think of informed bar staff or relevant information about the dangers of certain drugs that are on the screens displayed. Other classic, effective measures, the provision of waterfonteintjes or ‘chill-rooms’ in nightclubs for ecstasy users who are at risk from dry or overheated to touch.” ‘Safe and Sound’ is an organisation that specifically focuses on such measures in the nightlife. “That work according to science, the most effective way to ensure the health of the users to ensure, is more than repression,” explains Jeroen De Craemer of the organization. “That is why we are so in on this approach. Some people say that you can now once risks have if you drugs take, that it is your own fault. So we would not see. We start from the health of people in nightlife.”