ABD takes part in the technical meeting of the European consumer room network in Lisbon

It focuses on designing specific assessment indicators for these services

The Deputy Director of the ABD Drugs’ Area, Ester Aranda, took part this Monday in the technical meeting of the European Consumer Rooms Network in Europe (ENDCR), promoted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the Correlation European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN), that will be hold for the next two days in Lisbon.

Aranda has presented the current situation and future challenges in the management of drug consumption rooms in the CAS Baluard and the Lotus Integral Residential Centre, two services owned by the Public Health Agency of Barcelona and managed by the ABD group.

First of all, she pointed out the need to incorporate the social justice approach into the public health model. In general, a good response is noted in the attention and support to the privileged group of society, but there’s a need to reduce barriers to grant access and support to minority groups in situations of greater vulnerability (women, LGBTQ+, migrants, young people, the elderly…). She has also highlighted the risks involved in keeping closed harm reduction equipments during the night and the burn-out suffered by the professionals. One aspect shared and discussed among all participants has been the decrease of violence.

The experience implemented at the Lotus residential center has been presented as a good example of incorporation of the feminist model into a harm reduction service, but the incorporation of the transcultural perspective and attention to the traumatic episode remains a challenge. This situation has been shared by most southern European countries with supervised consumption rooms.

Consumption patterns in Barcelona

The ABD representative also spoke about the patterns of substance consumption currently present in Barcelona. With regard to depressors, she has highlighted the low purity of heroin, the increase in the use of psychoactive drugs and alcohol and the number of related intoxications dealt with. With regard to stimulants, she has stated the increase in the use of inhaled methamphetamine, the maintenance of prevalence in the use of crac, and consequently the increase in the number of related intoxications attended. Both the growth in the use of inhaled stimulants and the increase in the use of psychoactive drugs have also been trends shared by other European countries.

The involvement of the ABD in this European network demonstrates the entity’s long journey and level of expertise in the design and implementation of supervised consumption rooms.