North Wales PCC calls for heroin injection scheme

Image caption, The North Wales police and crime commissioner wants to tackle the public and human cost of illegal drug use

Drug users could be given heroin in a bid to save lives and reduce crime, the North Wales police and crime commissioner has said.

Arfon Jones is pushing for support to introduce a聽Heroin Assisted Treatment (HAT) scheme in the region following similar trials in Glasgow and Teesside.

Drug users would be given medical-grade heroin at special centres where they could inject themselves twice a day.

The Welsh Government said the benefits should be balanced against the costs.

Mr Jones, a former police inspector and a long-time campaigner for drug reform, told an online conference it was time for people to stop stigmatising drug users and start supporting them.

"Taking drugs is not a lifestyle choice as some would have us believe, but rather an illness that can be treated," he said.

"Providing alternatives to illegal street drugs can reduce demand on services, reduce the organised crime market, but most importantly save lives."

The latest government figures show the number of deaths related to drug misuse dropped by about 21% in 2019 compared to the previous year, from 208 to 165.

However, north Wales saw an increase from 36 to 39 deaths where聽drug poisoning and misuse was cited as the main cause.

Wrexham and Anglesey were named as problem areas, with the activities of "county lines" drug gangs making the situation worse, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Tracey Breheny, the Welsh Government's deputy director of substance misuse policy, told the conference the event was "an important start of the dialogue".

"This is an area of treatment that's undoubtedly controversial and, based on evidence used, only for a small cohort of individuals who may not have responded well to other treatments," she said.

"By its very nature and given the requirement to offer supervised consumption, it also can be expensive."