ABSTRACT
However, over the years differing governments have responded fl exibly to the potential harms that drugs may cause users and society. In response to the revelation that injecting drug users sharing equipment could contribute to the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus, the government of the time pursued a policy of harm reduction, setting up needle exchange schemes and promoting substitute-prescribing as an alternative to street heroin and an acknowledged way to reduce harm at individual, community and societal levels (ACMD 1988; Buchanan 2010; Watson 2013). Britain has not gone as far as some of its more innovative European neighbours (including Germany) in this regard, rejecting innovations such as drug consumption rooms, for example (HoC Science and Technology Committee 2006; HoC Select Committee on Home Affairs 2002). However, in spite of this, a policy of harm reduction was the consensus view among British policy makers until the election of the Conservative-led government in 2010 heralded a change in direction.
