Aussie continued
Staff anticipate up to 200 users will visit the center each day, and van Beek said many users balked at the media presence outside the center.
Opponents of the experiment, which is sanctioned by the state government and the police, said it will not stop overdose deaths and will hurt tourism in the city.
New South Wales state opposition leader Kerry Chikarovski said the heroin injecting room sent out the wrong message about drugs. "The injecting room is basically telling our young people that if they choose to start using illegal drugs they will be supported in that decision," she said.
Similar facilities are running in countries including Switzerland, Britain and the Netherlands.
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 Netherlands
Dutch agree 'drug drive-throughs'
VENLO, -- Plans for coffee shops near the Dutch-German border -- dubbed "drug drive-throughs" by locals -- have been unveiled by a town in the Netherlands.
The proposals have been agreed in Venlo in an attempt to keep thousands of German drug tourists out of its centre, local officials told Reuters.
It is legal to buy soft drugs for use in small quantities in Dutch coffee shops, which frequently offer numerous varieties of cannabis.
Elke Haanraadts, a Venlo town planner and spokeswoman for the project, told Reuters: "I think that the German people coming especially for their five grams of soft drugs will benefit. It's easier for them to buy it near the road and then go back again to Germany." Officials in |
