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| Force explains drug needles plan | Force explains drug needles plan |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Police plans to install a needle vending machine by one of its stations is to be debated by councillors. | Police plans to install a needle vending machine by one of its stations is to be debated by councillors. |
| North Wales Police wants to install the £10,000 machine outside its Colwyn Bay station, Conwy, so it can be used by registered drug addicts. | North Wales Police wants to install the £10,000 machine outside its Colwyn Bay station, Conwy, so it can be used by registered drug addicts. |
| Drug users would get special tokens to collect clean needles. | Drug users would get special tokens to collect clean needles. |
| But a drug treatment charity in the town is calling for the idea to be scrapped, saying any scheme should be properly supervised. | But a drug treatment charity in the town is calling for the idea to be scrapped, saying any scheme should be properly supervised. |
| The charity has put an advert in a local newspaper to condemn the proposed scheme. | The charity has put an advert in a local newspaper to condemn the proposed scheme. |
| North Wales Police chief constable Richard Brunstrom has said the scheme would help drug addicts by ensuring drug users do not need to share dirty needles. | North Wales Police chief constable Richard Brunstrom has said the scheme would help drug addicts by ensuring drug users do not need to share dirty needles. |
| A needle vending machine is not the answer because it removes the human contact that the addict needs Danie Strydom, Touchstones12 | |
| Pharmacies and hospitals in many areas of north Wales already hand out clean needles, but the service does not exist in the Colwyn Bay area. | Pharmacies and hospitals in many areas of north Wales already hand out clean needles, but the service does not exist in the Colwyn Bay area. |
| Addicts would use tokens provided by rehabilitation agencies in the area. | Addicts would use tokens provided by rehabilitation agencies in the area. |
| The vending machine needs planning approval by Conwy County Council and would become the first of its kind in Britain. | The vending machine needs planning approval by Conwy County Council and would become the first of its kind in Britain. |
| A North Wales Police sergeant is to explain to the local authority's scrutiny committee how the system would work. | A North Wales Police sergeant is to explain to the local authority's scrutiny committee how the system would work. |
| 'CCTV camera' | |
| The committee will also hear a report from National Public Health Service for Wales on the effectiveness of needle and syringe exchange. | The committee will also hear a report from National Public Health Service for Wales on the effectiveness of needle and syringe exchange. |
| The service said the lack of needle exchange facilities was a "barrier" to controlling rates of infection of HIV among drug users. | The service said the lack of needle exchange facilities was a "barrier" to controlling rates of infection of HIV among drug users. |
| The machine would be sited outside the town's police station | |
| It read: "Pharmacies and vending machines increase the availability and probably the utilisation of sterile injecting equipment by injecting drug users." | It read: "Pharmacies and vending machines increase the availability and probably the utilisation of sterile injecting equipment by injecting drug users." |
| But Danie Strydom, director of Touchstones12, a charity which helps recovering addicts and promotes an abstinence policy, said the scheme did not provide the face-to-face contact needed when dealing with addicts. | |
| He said: "There would bin placed under a CCTV camera which would require the addict themselves to place there old needles in the bin. It's never going to happen." | |
| "A needle vending machine is not the answer because it removes the human contact that the addict needs." | |
| But Cais, another organisation which helps people with drugs and alcohol problems, is in favour of the scheme. | |
| 'Pandering' | |
| Business director Chris Dukes said: "Anything that is put into the community that alleviates this harm has to be a good thing. | |
| "We would all very much welcome the human face in being able to exchange needles but that's not the situation in Colwyn Bay." | |
| Councillor Darren Millar is to chair the local authority's scrutiny committee meeting. | |
| He said: "We mustn't be seen to be pandering to drug users or giving the impression that it is safe to legitimise the use of drugs. | |
| "I think it's important to get beyond that point of debate into why is there a problem with drugs in the local town and how can we best address it." |