N-VA protests against the Brussels drug injection site

The N-VA in Brussels has campaigned against the injection site for drug users that opens at the end of March in Woeringenstraat in Brussels. “This injection site and the 500-metre tolerance zone around it are sending completely the wrong signal. It completely contradicts drug prevention and the detoxification principle. The Brussels government is facilitating and normalising the use of drugs with this,” says Brussels N-VA MP Mathias Vanden Borre.

The Brussels city council wants to open an injection site for drug users at Woeringenstraat 9 at the end of March. In addition, a tolerance zone with a radius of 500 metres around the injection site will be set up. In that zone, the possession and use of drugs will not be prosecuted by the police or the public prosecutor.

The injection site is illegal

The drug law is clear: facilitating drug use is prohibited. The injection site is thus illegal. “But Minister of Justice Van Quickenborne has conveniently got out of it by shifting the responsibility to the local public prosecutor’s office. However, there is no doubt that such a site is in violation of the drug law. The situation in Brussels is anything but clear from a legal point of view,” notes Mathias Vanden Borre.

Drug dealers are given free rein

In addition, the tolerance zone gives drug dealers free rein. This will jeopardise the quality of life and safety of the neighbourhood: all kinds of criminal gangs threatening and robbing passers-by and residents, openly dealing drugs and harassing women. “Drug dealing and possession must be actively combated. In order to guarantee safety in the neighbourhood, we must go for zero tolerance, even for minor crimes,” Mathias Vanden Borre says.

Guidance to a drug-free existence

Preventing substance abuse and addiction problems should be the priority policy choice. We must help users get rid of their destructive habits as quickly as possible. “The injection site is only there to control their nuisance, while drug users are patients. As a society, we must not leave this group to their fate, but must guide them towards a drug-free existence,” Mathias Vanden Borre concludes.