Death due to closure
On July 19, 2024, the German NGO Deutsche Aidshilfe officially did "not open" Bavaria's first drug consumption room on Fraunhofer Street in Munich. Only through the shop window can a fully functional consumption area be seen, including life-saving medication, an oxygen bottle and sterile syringes and consumption utensils. However, the door of the pop-up drug consumption room remains locked. This is because this highly effective means of prevention is not permitted in Bavaria.
The host city of the 25th International AIDS Conference AIDS204 is therefore not allowed to open drug consumption rooms - although it would like to and these rooms are recommended by experts. This also applies to other Bavarian cities such as Augsburg and Nuremberg as well as cities in six other federal states that are also denying their municipalities the necessary legal ordinance. As an unmistakable sign of this closed opportunity and gap in supply, the closed pop-up drug consumption room on Fraunhofer Street will remain open for the duration of the conference.
Anyone who finds themselves in front of the locked door will receive the following explanation:
Drug consumption rooms save lives and prevent infections with HIV and hepatitis. They move drug use from public spaces into a protected environment.
Medical assistance can be provided in emergencies and sterile syringes and drug use instruments are available.
The WHO itself recommends installing such facilities.
The city of Munich wants to set up drug consumption rooms. However, the Bavarian state government, like some other German states, refuses to issue the necessary legal permits.
That means the host city of the 25th International AIDS Conference, along with every town in Bavaria, must do without this scientifically recognized means of HIV prevention.
Deutsche Aidshilfe, together with numerous cooperating organizations, has set up this symbolic drug consumption room. It will remain closed.
The number of drug-related deaths and HIV infections among intravenous drug users has been rising for years.
We ask those responsible to refrain from offering their condolences.
An initiative by Deutsche Aidshilfe
Cooperation partners:
- Ärzte der Welt e.V.
- AIDS 2024, the 25th International AIDS Conference
- ARBEITSKREISE KRITISCHE SOZIALARBEIT (AKS)
- Deutscher Caritasverband e. V.: Caritas München – Therapieverbund Sucht
- Condrobs e.V.
- Extra e.V.
- JES München
- Landeshauptstadt München, Gesundheitsreferat (GSR)
- Münchner Aids-Hilfe e.V.
- Prop e.V.
- Therapie Sofort München gGmbH