Home Office urged to give Glasgow injecting rooms the go-ahead
SNP MP Alison Thewliss will introduce a Bill on the issue at Westminster this afternoon
Last updated 14th Mar 2018
The Home Office is being urged to give the go-ahead to plans for a safe-injecting rooms in Glasgow later. It would allow users to take heroin safely under medical supervision. But officials say it would be illegal and would expect police to enforce the law.
SNP MP Alison Thewliss will introduce a Bill on the issue at Westminster this afternoon because she claims ‘we cannot stand still on this issue any longer.’
The MP for Glasgow Central is presenting her ten minute rule Bill to ask the UK Government to allow for the piloting of a Supervised Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) in Glasgow city centre. She has been a long-standing advocate for an alternative approach to tackling drug-injecting, and the associated public health concerns. The Bill has drawn support from all political parties, with many supporters recognising that the status quo was failing to adequately tackle the matter.
Commenting, Alison Thewliss MP said: “With this Bill, I want to send a very clear message – with widespread and cross-party support - to the UK Government that the status-quo is doing nothing to help the drug-injecting population. Today’s Bill is on the issue of Supervised Drug Consumption Facilities, and the associated proposals for a pilot facility in my constituency of Glasgow Central.
"The problems associated with public injecting are patently clear: my constituency office regularly receives reports of needles and other drug paraphernalia being discarded in public places, and I have seen drug-injecting taking place in locations not far from where my office is located.
"The complex health issues for the drug-injecting population in Scotland are becoming ever more alarming, especially for an ageing population who have been injecting for a long time. In Scotland in 2016 there were 867 deaths from fatal overdoses of drugs – the highest number of deaths from drug overdose in Europe. We cannot stand still on this issue any longer.
"Doing the same thing, over and over, is failing families, communities, and those using drugs. Supervised injecting facilities may not solve everything, but they have worked elsewhere and the Home Office must support my Bill and allow Glasgow to go ahead and assess these proposals with the pilot.''
In November plans for a drugs consumption room in Glasgow were dealt a major blow.
The Lord Advocate James Wolfe QC said he would not give legal permission for it to go ahead.
At the time the Crown Office said: "The Lord Advocate has considered the proposals and is of the view that the public interest objective is a health rather than justice one.
"Scottish Government Health Officials will therefore offer to meet with the HSCP to discuss the proposal, its objectives, and how these might best be met."