Newcastle Cathedral has hosted an event calling for the reform of failed drug laws.
One of the talking points of the event on Thursday night was the UK's first Overdose Prevention Centre (OPC): a converted ambulance that is a hygienic safe space where people are allowed to take drugs under the supervision of trained staff.
Reverend Jon Canessa, The Lantern Initiative Lead at Newcastle Cathedral, believes that these OPCs have a part to play in tackling this problem.
"Nobody has died in an Overdose Prevention Centre. They are getting drugs tested and are not using at unsafe levels. They can then move onto a harm reduction programme before eventually coming off drugs altogether further down the line."
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Reverend Canessa has worked in this area for most of his adult life, and now works with the community through his role with the Cathedral.
He said: "I have worked for almost 25 years in the related fields of homelessness, addiction, poor mental health and offending behaviour. My job here is working with people that are navigating dark and difficult circumstances, acting as the proverbial lantern of the cathedral helping to guide them through."
Reverend Canessa added that current legislation can be harmful to those that are being criminalised by it.
He added: "It feels fundamentally unjust to hit people who have been affected by trauma in such awful ways with legislation that in some cases will criminalise. There is a direct correlation between people with chronic addictions and those that have gone through trauma.
"We want to see a fundamental shift from this being an issue of criminality to a health and wellbeing issue. The policy itself needs to change, I want to take nothing away from the services commissioned up here that work incredibly hard with the resources that they have."
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