Blue plague fight must be a priority

IT is easy to overlook the fact that, as well as being First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon is a constituency MSP, representing some of the most deprived communities in Scotland in her Glasgow Southside patch.

Like every other politician, she will have all kinds of problems presented to her at local surgeries, including the grieving family of one of the victims of the so-called “blue plague”.

The fake Valium pills have caused the death of addicts across Scotland but had it not been for the investigations of the Daily Record, the phenomenon would be a silent killer instead of a national scandal.

The First Minister is aware of the situation because she reads our newspaper and writes for it too as a columnist and she has already demanded police action.

Now she is aware of the testimony of one family and recognises the victim as one of her Toryglen constituents from the campaign trail. So it is now not just political for the First Minister, it is personal.

As an MSP and as First Minister she has the power to make change here, and to make sure that wiping out the scourge of the “blue plague” beomes a top priority.

Everyone deserves protection from the cynical dealers poisoning the streets and, as she will have seen in the eyes of the grieving family in her office, every life is precious.