Medically supervised injecting centres for heroin users may be opened in Ireland as early as next year, it has been confirmed.

Speaking at an international drugs forum in London, the Minister of State with responsibility for the Government's Drug Strategy, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, pointed out that Ireland, particularly Dublin, has a major problem with ‘street injecting'.

"These drug users are at increased risk of overdose and blood-borne disease infections, and the general public is at risk owing to unsafe disposal of syringes and other drug paraphernalia," he explained.

He pointed to a recent report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction which found that supervised drug-taking facilities ‘can be an effective intervention in harm reduction and a means to encourage drug users to enter treatment'.

"These facilities have been shown to be effective in engaging difficult-to-reach populations of drug users. This is especially the case for marginalised groups, such as the homeless, and those who use drugs on the streets or in other risky and unhygienic conditions.

"I have asked officials in my department to examine proposals for the provision of medically supervised injecting facilities as a response to this issue. This is in line with similar models in Sydney and parts of Europe," Minister Ó Ríordáin said.

He insisted that such centres are ‘not a free for all for those who wish to inject drugs'.

"It is a clinical, controlled environment which aims to engage a hard to reach population of drug user and provide defined pathways to higher threshold treatment services, such as medical and social interventions and counselling services," he noted.

He said that research has shown that the use of these centres is linked with reductions in injecting risk behaviours, which can lead to among other things, overdose and death. However, he acknowledged that the impact of the centres on the reduction of HIV and hepatitis C rates among drug users remains unclear.

"A medically supervised injecting centre is not the answer to the drug problem, but could form part of a suite of harm reduction measures, as a way of managing the problem," Minister Ó Ríordáin added.

He made his comments at the London School of Economics IDEAS Forum, which was attended by drug policy experts from all over the world.