Harm Reduction, Drug Consumption Rooms, and Syringe Service Programs In Germany

"Clean needles and syringes and other drug use paraphernalia are provided through a network of low-threshold services, outpatient counselling facilities and vending machines. Data on the number of syringes distributed are not available for the country as a whole, but data from local syringe monitoring are available in the Land North Rhine-Westphalia and some larger cities, including Frankfurt and Berlin.

"The outpatient treatment centres serve as additional contact points for drug users, providing crisis interventions and offering psychosocial and medical help; some also offer outreach services. There are currently 22 DCRs [Drug Consumption Rooms] at fixed locations in Germany, and two drug consumption vehicles operating in Berlin.

"In recent years, the number of programmes providing overdose emergency training and giving out the antidote naloxone to potential bystanders of opioid overdose has increased, and activities are reported from Berlin, Saarbrücken and several cities in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria. Based on an on-going government-funded project, prevention and harm reduction interventions targeting migrants are being developed. To reach people in rural areas for early testing, a pilot project in Bavaria provides online access to order diagnostic tests for HIV, following an initial face-to-face counselling session."