Westminster debate on 'fix rooms' to take place

A debate on the opening of controversial drug consumption facilities, including one planned in Glasgow, is to take place at Westminster today.

MP for Inverclyde Ronnie Cowan will take the reigns after raising support for the so-called 'fix rooms' at Prime Minister questions earlier this year.

The Lord Advocate in Scotland refused to make a legal exception that would addicts to use the facility without fear of prosecution for things like possession.

Drug consumption rooms are supervised drug consumption facilities, where illicit drugs can be used under the supervision of trained staff in order to protect both the drug user and the public. Drug consumption rooms have been operating in Europe for 30 years and are currently operating in countries across Europe, in Canada and Australia.

Mr Cowan recently raised the subject at Prime Ministers Question Time where he called on the UK Government to take action on introducing drug consumption rooms, in the UK or give the Scottish Parliament the necessary powers to do so.

Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership is currently considering proposals to establish a safer drug consumption facility and heroin-assisted treatment service in Glasgow city centre.

Speaking in-advance of his debate, Mr Cowan said:

“Supervised drug consumption facilities, where illicit drugs can be used under the supervision of trained staff, have been operating in Europe for the last three decades.

“These facilities provide needles which instantly reduce the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C. Instantly we improve the health of the user and instantly we engage users back into society where they can be signposted to the relevant services.

“If we want to stop damaging society and help the many individuals that have a drug addiction problem then we need to change our approach.

“Therefore, the UK government must look at the growing body of evidence and change the law to allow DCRs to be opened in the UK without fear of prosecution.

"If not, they must devolve the relevant powers to Scotland to allow the SNP Government to pursue ambitious and innovative new methods to tackle the public health issue of unsafe drug consumption."