(28 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Bogota, Colombia – 27 April 2025
1. Various of Christian Camilo Amaya at the consumption room
2. Various of the consumption room
++IMAGES OVER SOUNDBITE++
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Christian Camilo Amaya, user of consumption room:
" This is a space that has been created for that purpose, so that one can be at ease, so that they can give one the necessary guidelines to be in this environment with all the necessary care."
4. Various of consumption room
++IMAGES OVER SOUNDBITE++
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Daniel Rojas, general coordinator of the Cambie program:
" (The room is important) first because it saves lives, simple as that, second because it has a direct impact on public health indicators, third because it has also been shown that these spaces not only reduce community exposure but also reduce crime."
6. Various of the consumption room
7. Christian Camilo Amaya at the consumption room
8. Signs on wall of consumption room, some reading (Spanish) "Do not bring weapons, knives or firearms to the site."
STORYLINE:
Christian Camilo Amaya’s left arm is tattooed with a skull pierced by a syringe, which he says represents the use of cocaine and heroin.
He frequently shot up on streets of Bogota, but he has recently switched to South America’s only supervised room for drug use, aimed at reducing harm and preventing overdoses.
Non-profit organization Accion Tecnica Social runs the supervised room named Cambie (or Change in English) in Colombia’s capital. Since it opened in June 2023, 14 users had their overdoses treated with injections of naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses. The last such case was a year ago.
Amaya often carries a black plastic bag with more than a dozen used syringes, which he puts in a red container for biological waste, as protocols for using the room dictate.
He said he’s not addicted to heroin, but argues the supervised room gives him syringes and training on hygienic injections and overdose prevention.
“This is a space that has been created for that purpose, so that one can be at ease, so that they can give one the necessary guidelines to be in this environment with all the necessary care,” Amaya told The Associated Press in the unmarked drug use room in one of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.
The initiative is one of the topics of the International Conference on Harm Reduction, which started Sunday in Bogota.
It is the first time the conference has been held in Latin America in the past three decades, as the leftist administration of President Gustavo Petro pushes for a revision in the international drug control system of the United Nations.
The supervised consumption room currently has 87 registered users, 26% of whom are Venezuelan migrants, who come to inject themselves or receive syringes, food, guidance on lower-risk injection techniques, or overdose management.
Of the users who come to the room, 91% use heroin, 7% inject cocaine, and less than 2% use speedballs, a mixture of cocaine and heroin. Official data on heroin use in Colombia is scarce.
The project was born in 2022 when organizers started contacting users directly to identify their needs.
It received technical advice from other countries, especially Mexico.
AP video by Samuel Sotomayor.
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0a8e7dd3ac834bf49ba60ccdf327d118
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in May 3, 2025, 3:05 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
