Shooting Up In Peace And Comfort

Instead of shooting up in stairwells and phone booths, heroin addicts in the Dutch capital can now feed their addiction in a quiet room paid for by the city.

Famous for its marijuana and hashish cafes, Amsterstam opened three city-funded centers Monday to help get an estimated 400 homeless junkies get off the streets.

"They use the streets as their toilet, and needles end up on the street," said city councilwoman Jikkie Van der Giessen, who hopes the centers will give homeless addicts a bit more dignity.

Although the Dutch have a tolerant drug policy and allow possession of small amounts of so-called "soft" drugs for personal use, homeless drug addicts are looked upon as public nuisances and police don't hesitate to arrest heroin users.

The drop-in centers provide clean needles and a room in which addicts may inject or smoke their own drugs. They also provide showers, washing machines and light meals.

The goal isn't to wean addicts off drugs; it's simply to give them a warm, safe place to get a fix.

The atmosphere is cafe-like: Addicts grab sandwiches from platters and eat them in rooms decorated with flowers and plastered with health posters, then wait their turn to use a back room, where the needles are.

One such addict, Dirk Devries, belongs to a center located near the old Heineken brewery in southern Amsterdam. Every day, he relaxes in a small room in the back of the building and injects a fourth of a gram of heroin in his body, at leisure and at peace.

"When you're on the street, you're always in a hurry and can't really enjoy what you are doing," he said. Addicts are allowed to linger and savor their highs in the centers, which are open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Over the past two decades, larger centers in Amsterdam and Rotterdam were closed after they attracted hundreds of foreign addicts and dealers who circled the centers in wait of customers.

Other European countries, notably Germany and Switzerland, also have experimented with the same approach for longtime homeless addicts.

Despite Amsterdam's problems with the concept in the past, Van der Giessen wanted to give addicts another chance in smaller centers under tighter control. If successful, another three centers will open within the next three months.

"As long as we leave them on the street, we can't reach them," said Van der Giessen, who hopes the users will want to overcome their addictions after they become part of a social structure again.

But Devries, who has used heroin for 20 years, is not looking for help with his addiction.

"The intention is not to get out of the addiction, but to have a place to use safely," Devries said.

Written by Laurie Mansfield.
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