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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Brixton drug centre gets go ahead
BBC News
Thursday 15 Dec 2005 A drug rehabilitation centre and needle exchange has been given the go ahead to be created near Brixton's high street. The South London and Maudsley NHS Trust's centre got planning permission from Lambeth Council on Tuesday. People living in Brighton Terrace, south London, fear it will worsen the current problem of crack and heroin addicts taking drugs in their street. The trust said it would work with local people and police to ensure the centre was safe and well run. The move comes in the week the Metropolitan Police (Met) started clamping down on people caught carrying cannabis in the centre of Brixton. It is hoped this will discourage drug tourists and aggressive dealers who hide behind the more relaxed laws associated with the Class C drug. The tough stance contrasts to the "softly softly" approach to cannabis which was piloted in Brixton before the drug was downgraded to Class C. Paul Gill, of the Brighton Terrace Residents Association, said: "Putting a drugs rehabilitation centre in Brixton is like telling an alcoholic they just have to walk through a brewery to get to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. "This is a residential street and we have real problems with addicts in our street and this will just increase the influx of them." But a spokesman for the trust said: "There is a major drugs problem in Lambeth and we know that we can provide an important part of the solution to that by bringing people into treatment. "Research shows that treatment reduces drug-related crime - so this is good news for everyone in Lambeth, as well as for people who are working to overcome addictions."
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