UK nightclubs will offer free cocaine and MDMA booths to test Class A’s are safe to take
The walk-in booths allow young revellers to check the quality of their illegal class-A drugs before deciding to take them
CLUBBERS in Preston, Lancashire, will be offered FREE cocaine and MDMA drug-checking booths as part of a police-backed service planned for the new year.
Drug booths will allow ravers to test the purity of their substances - a project reportedly aimed at warning people against "adulterated or highly potent" drugs that could kill them.
The walk-in booths let young revellers to check the quality of their illegal class-A drugs before deciding to take them.
Preston is expected to be the first place in the UK to offer the service - which will operate in the city centre on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Fiona Measham, professor of criminology at Durham University and co-director of the Loop, the non-profit company that will run the service, said: “It’s a very new service and some people might see it as quite radical, but it’s focusing on harm reduction.”
The service is considered legal because the workers, who will operate out of caravan, would not handle the drugs and any tested substances would be destroyed, reports .
Critics, however, have slammed the scheme, suggesting it could normalise drug-taking and that no drugs are truly safe.
Some argue police are encouraging drug use in a move that clearly breaks the law.
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“I am staggered this is being contemplated,” said Professor Neil McKeganey, founder of the Centre for Substance Use Research at Glasgow University. “The police are advocating a view which one would not unfairly describe as facilitating drug use.
“By implication the green light has been given by the authorities to consumption. It’s hard to see how this isn’t an absolute breach of our current drugs laws.”
The National Police Chief's Council reportedly said the scheme could be useful but was still not fully endorsed for national implementation.
Police said they were "most supportive" and agreed not to target anyone using the services, according to Measham.
Users will not be required to give their names.
The service will use sophisticated laser equipment that can reveal any drug's content in minutes and is designed as a "pragmatic" response to drug problems in clubs that neither encourages or condones the use of illegal substances.
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