Call for needle exchange service
He said a report he commissioned had recommended that all the relevant agencies — including the Prison Service — get together to see how such a system could be put in place.
Mr Carey said he backed key recommendations in the report, including an expansion of needle exchange services throughout the country. Needle exchanges provide clean syringes to users in return for old ones, in a bid to limit the spread of infectious diseases.
Tony Geoghegan, director of Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI), a voluntary drug treatment agency, said needle exchanges were located in the greater Dublin area and, part-time, in Limerick.
Speaking at a MQI conference on safer injecting practices, Mr Carey said previous calls to the Prison Service on needle exchanges had been turned down.
“We have raised it with the Prison Service and their response is, as expected: ‘No’.”
He said the issue should be investigated first, before rejecting it. “I’m no expert, but I’m told it’s done in Spain and elsewhere. So if other prison regimes can operate it, they, at least, should be looked at to see if it can be introduced here.
“I want it examined, there’s no point in just excluding it. If needle exchange could be introduced in prison it could reduce an awful lot of other difficulties around infections and HIV.”
He added that ministers for justice shared the concern of the Prison Service: “All ministers for justice, including the present one, won’t even contemplate the provision of a needle exchange service in prisons.”
Mr Carey acknowledged there were genuine security and welfare concerns among prison management and officers. He said there had to be an improvement in the provision of needle exchanges nationwide, but said it was “probably the hardest one to crack” in terms of community support.
“We need to have to look at pilot projects. It may be possible that community pharmacies would be in a position to provide some form of needle exchange. There’s a lot of locations where that could happen, Athlone, Letterkenny, Limerick, Cork.”
He praised MQI for their Safer Injecting Guide which provides information and advice to drug users on reducing the harm to themselves. Mr Geoghegan said needle exchanges need to be available at nights and weekends and other measures, such as safer injecting facilities, should be explored.
* Contact MQI on 01 6456524 or www.mqi.ie
