When people talk about shooting galleries in the United States, we think of the booth at the carnival where people can pay to shoot rim fire guns (nowadays they use thermographic cameras) at targets that cause some sort of chain reaction and an entertaining result from an animal or light. This entertainment is very different from the entertainment from the so-called “shooting gallery” that was recently opened in France.
This Supervised Drug Injection Site (SCMR), or shooting gallery, is a site where people can go to take drugs. Drug users can come in off of the streets and be given a safer substitute to heroin or crack, and they will be taking the drugs under supervision of medical professionals. These medical professionals cannot intervene in any way unless there is an overdose or the person injecting drugs cannot find a vein. The professionals may not help administer the drugs at all.
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, believes that this site will help with drug addiction because users “can come here, they can get counselling, they can get assistance, and get guided toward a life that will get them out of these addictions.” It is hoped that the site will also decrease the spread of infection by providing free, sterile needles and decrease the overall number of drug addicts by providing users with safer alternatives to hard drugs and helping them stop using. It is estimated that the facility will help 100-200 drug users daily to safely administer drugs.
Not surprisingly, there are opponents to the SCMR that believe that the site will only increase the number of users and prevent addicts from stopping the use of drugs. The opposition believes that the French government is being hypocritical-saying that people shouldn’t be doing drugs, but at the same time enabling drug users. In addition, they are concerned because they think the neighborhood surrounding the facility will be subject to increased drug-related incidents. Another significant concern is the estimated $1.3 million that will be needed to keep the facility open for one year. However, this is facility is not the first of its kind, and it has been concluded that they have had an overall positive result. There are similar sites in Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain, the first of which was established thirty years ago.
It will probably be some time before something like this takes hold in the United States, but, if they have an overall positive effect, a lot of people could support the plan to help drug users and addicts instead of toss them in jail. It would require a significantly different view on drugs by people that do not use them and much more acceptance of the idea that people are going to use drugs. This type of facility would require people to want to help drug users instead of incarcerate, shame, or isolate them from the rest of society.
Not Your Typical “Shooting Gallery”
