Forward-thinking harm reduction charity, The Loop, announced this week that London’s first regular drug checking service is to launch here in Camden, plus one in Hackney, too.

The UK’s relationship towards substances that have been deemed illegal feels like it’s been stuck in a time warp for generations. All the while, the human cost of this inertia of the imagination racks up more unnecessary victims.

So, seeing the relevant authorities in London finally give in to the evidence-based truth of testing provision feels like a bit of a moment.

Drugs are a classically polarising issue, with the added twist of their illegality, yet social ubiquity, causing anyone arguing for or against the status quo quickly having to contort themselves into all kinds of ridiculous hypocrisies.

And so nothing changes. We either sketch over the gulf between strict ‘on paper’ prohibition and its glaring IRL ineffectiveness with a knowing nod and a wink, or storm into any debate on the high horse of moral outrage, which drowns out the fact that the law so obviously isn’t fit for purpose.

Current policy increases harm, so it shouldn’t be that controversial to want to change it.

Yet, the Green Party’s imminently sensible, if all-too-easy-to-rubbish decriminalisation policies are mocked as beyond-the-pale outrageous by the Tory press and the PM alike, all while he also drops a classical nod ‘n wink routine when interrogated about his own high times as a student. Shame.

From a cultural perspective, chemically altered states have been the rocket fuel behind many of our most celebrated creative works, just as they cheerfully augment million’s of people’s peak shared social experiences.

We should openly and appreciatively recognise that. But yes, we all know how these substances can equally serve as the proverbial slippery slope down which many brilliant minds and unwitting pleasure-seekers have later descended.

This ferocious double-edged power (mixed with a large dose of social control) is why we seem unable to have an adult conversation about both the pursuit of harm reduction and the creative joy of psychoactively enhanced hedonism.

Whatever fearmongering the law, puritanical religion leaders or risk-averse teachers try to impress upon us from a young age, a natural intrigue towards intoxication for kicks is still our birth right.

Relying on the very worst kind of criminals to fulfil this vast and vibrant market is a truly terrible idea. The impulse to protect others from the real perils of excess is honest enough, but doing so via the blunt instrument of prohibition has so clearly proven to be rubbish.

Look no further than the new scary-strong synthetic versions of all the most celebrated of recreational drugs now ruining lives if you want evidence of the abject failure of decades of sustained prohibition.

In an urban centre like Camden, the way people use and abuse substances is also complex and nuanced. There will be as many unfortunate hardcore addict’s lives soon to be made safer by The Loop’s testing facilities as there will be clubbers simply keen to make sure their latest little baggie of happy pills won’t derail their all-night dancefloor aspirations unexpectedly towards A&E.

What is universal, though, is the danger that an unregulated supply of the drugs people want (or unfortunately grow to need) to consume puts everyone in. With multiple perma-crises rumbling on across the world, this is at risk of being a bit of a forgotten crisis - at least until it negatively impacts someone close to you.

The old hypocrisies aren’t helpful, yet they grow ever more pronounced, as legalised industries for cannabis and psychedelics develop apace in previous ‘war on drugs’ strongholds such as the USA, while immoral death penalties for relatively minor possession ‘offences’ still abound elsewhere on the planet.

Hopefully, The Loop’s success in getting the support (and Council funding) for this local checking facility might remedy some of our failed approaches and point towards some new, more grown-up thinking on this topic here on home turf.

Whoever you are, and from wherever you hail (not just LB Camden), if you’ve got a substance that you fancy ingesting for fun, oblivion or all the complex self-medicating reasons in between, there’s now a judgement-free place to make sure it’s not going to badly, inadvertently harm you.

The service combines free personalised health advice alongside rapid chemical analysis of your sample, so you know what you’re in for. The anonymous results then contribute to realtime data collection on current trends, adulterants and other dangers lurking within local drug markets; vital info which can quickly be shared. This approach has already saved lives, with The Loop issuing alerts about dodgy batches of powders and pills confiscated at UK festivals - even though, frustratingly for now, the public-facing checking that now exists in Camden is still often not permitted on festival sites.

I’ve interviewed the pioneering Professor Fiona Measham, founder and chair of trustees of The Loop and chair in criminology at the University of Liverpool, previously, but it’s worth hearing what she has to say about the new service opening:

“Drug markets are more dangerous than ever, with increasing numbers of potent synthetic drugs in circulation across the UK. Drug checking can play a unique role in countering these threats, acting as the ‘canary in the coalmine’. It tests, identifies and communicates these risks rapidly and directly to local services and local communities. Drug checking reduces drug-related harm, which reduces the burden on emergency services and the NHS.”

Acknowledging the realities of how different drugs are being used, produced, sold and drift in and out of favour in society through this monitoring is a great step forward. We could do with more reality across the board, though, not more of the usual political point-scoring.

As with sex education, so much of the public dialogue about drug-taking focusses on the dangers, doom and downsides, leaving the delicious pleasures of a responsibly managed sexual encounter or mind-expanding chemical dalliance to be discovered in the shadows.

At a time when we desperately need more ways to trust those in authority, this experience gap is another terrible policy.

From weekend hedonists to struggling addicts, everyone deserves safer substances when the law has so comprehensively failed its expressed duty of care in ‘banning’ them. It should be inconceivable that anyone has ever argued otherwise.

Get your substances checked by The Loop team with no questions asked at Camden Drug & Alcohol Service, just off Camden High Street.

Don’t agree? Think these changes should go much further? Have your say in this week’s poll, below…

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The Palace Cinema, later known as The Gaumont, was a popular big screen attraction on Kentish Town Road a century ago. It became a law centre in the 1960s, and more recently was scrubbed up as a creative hub for a collection of artists run by Hypha Studios.

But a more permanent restoration of the building has long been mooted, and this week finally got its planning approval (see the impressive-looking render above). The plan is to create a bigger hub of affordable workspaces, community workshops and event spaces, retrofitting the historic building and expanding upon the activities that currently take place there.

As longer-term Camdenist readers will remember, a couple of years back we got actively involved in the decade-long local battle to realise the community cinema promised in planning at the redeveloped former North London Polytechnic assembly hall, directly opposite.

The dream was ultimately foiled, due to chronic lack of any cash and a near impossible market for small permanent cinemas, but we did get to screen the KT film festival winners and run a popular poster sale.

All the while, when trying and failing to make that difficult space work, there was chatter about what to do with the actual historic cinema looming over the road, which still had its Victorian upper circle and ornamental roof in place.

Now, a free 24-hour cinema pop-up running back-to-back features from midday on Fri 10th Apr to midnight on Sat 11th has been announced. In a move reminiscent of the infamous heyday of King’s Cross’ Scala, you’re invited to arrive whenever you like and stay for as long as you please. Look out for teasers for the movies in the programme soon via the @doublewonderfulevents Instagram.

If you love nightlife, your views are wanted on the Mayor’s proposals for how we improve what’s on offer after dark, create a more consistent approach to licencing and support London’s grassroots music venues, clubs, bars, restaurants and more. Have your say now before the closing date of 27th Mar. The GLA is particularly keen to hear from younger people for whom the resulting policy will shape their nights out for years to come, but to be honest, we should all have something of value to add to the framework.

FOOD: 🍛 NW5 is all aflutter at the arrival of Med Salleh to Kentish Town Rd, the Malaysian street food champions already with a big following in West London. This attractively decorated new outpost specialises in Kamparian claypot rice, char kuey teow Penanng-style, Hainanese chicken rice and other classics, and has already been paid a couple of visits from neighbouring Times food critic Giles Coren, (let alone the ambitious test of a table for 14 in the opening week for Iftar, attended by my dear Missus and friends ❤️).

MUSIC: 🎤 The Red Light Sessions are back at epic Camden Town boozer The Hawley Arms this Thurs 19th Mar with Welsh band The Now alongside the cool Carmine Nights playing in the upstairs.

FOOD: 🍞 Coal Drops Yard Japanese curry bread specialists Kanazawa have just opened their first physical shop on Islington Green, having made a name for themselves serving delicious fried and stuffed savoury breads and fruity donuts from their trailer on Lower Stable St.

COMEDY: 😂 Keep Your Sunny Side Up: The Gracie Fields Story tells the 'rags to riches' story of Britain's most successful female variety artist and the highest-earning female performer in the world in the 1930s. It follows Gracie's life from the age of 10 through to her death aged 8, from her tough northern upbringing, three marriages, life-threatening illness and the unjust way she was treated by the British press during World War Two. Runs until Sun 15th Mar at The Museum of Comedy in Blomsbury.

FOOD: 🐟 West Hampstead’s acclaimed Wet Fish Café is preparing to open a second branch in Primrose Hill. They promise to bring their winning fresh seafood and decent vino combo to the vacant Sweet Pea jewellery shop - conveniently also right next door to the existing fishmongers.

STAGE: 🎭 A bold new debut at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre explores the tumultuous marriage of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. The play journeys from the couple’s harmonious beginning to it’s acrimonious end, charting the painful collapse of their partnership, revealing the pressures of fame, creativity and addiction. Arthur & Marilyn runs 17th - 21st Mar.

DRINK: 🥂 It’s the first St Patrick’s Day since the long-overdue opening of the Guinness Open Gate Brewery London in Covent Garden, so head down there from today through to Tues 17th Mar for celebrations, live music and comedy.

FREE: 🛥️All day Sat 28th Mar the London Canal Museum is eschewing their usual entrance fee for their annual Community Open Day, inviting everyone in to discover the truly fascinating stories behind our local waterway.