France's first drug room for addicts to inject opens in Paris Tuesday Oct 11,2016

A Paris hospital is now housing France's first "shooting gallery" - a safe place where drug addicts can inject under medical supervision.

The controversial drug room was opened by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and Health Minister Marisol Touraine on Tuesday Oct 11,2016

The Paris facility is in the Lariboisiere Hospital, and has a separate entrance. It will formally open its doors to addicts on Friday, and about 200 are expected there daily.

The addicts will have to register, but are not obliged to give their real name, and will not be pursued by police for going there.

The facility has a dozen cubicles affording some privacy to addicts when they inject. It is run by Gaia, an association that helps to treat addicts, and the annual running cost is put at €1.2m (£1.1m; $1.3m).

It is near the Gare du Nord, a busy station where drug crime is common.

The users will exchange hard drugs like heroin and crack for substitutes, along with sterile injection kits.

Critics fear it could fuel drug abuse.

Ms Touraine said France had become the tenth country to set up drug rooms, which Switzerland pioneered in 1986

Drug rooms exist officially in several European countries, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Spain, as well as in Canada and Australia