INCREDIBLE
MP slams Tory minister for blocking drug consumption rooms after he admits he has never even visited one
THE UK’S policing minister admitted he has never visited a drug consumption room – despite blocking the life-saving facilities.
Kit Malthouse was slammed by Glasgow MP Alison Thewliss after she challenged him in the House of Commons.
Malthouse has rejected a request to allow a safe drug consumption room in Glasgow, despite mounting pressure to tackle Scotland’s drug death crisis.
His refusal comes in the face of record drug deaths in the UK as a whole, which has led to Prime Minister Boris Johnson doubling down on a hardline war on drugs that critics claim cannot be won.
Thewliss quizzed Malthouse in the UK Parliament this week on whether he had visited a Safer Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) like the one she had visited in Geneva, Switzerland.
After Malthouse admitted he hadn’t, Thewliss blasted: “It is simply not credible for the UK’s Drug Minister to reject safe drug consumption rooms when he hasn’t even bothered to visit one.
Kit Malthouse continues to act in direct opposition to expert advice on safe consumption facilities and has missed many opportunities to meaningfully reform drug policy.
“It is true safe drug consumption rooms are not a silver bullet in the fight against drug deaths but they have been shown internationally to reduce the harm caused by drugs, and ultimately save lives.”
Thewliss asked Malthouse to travel to Glasgow to view the alternative under his plans – drug users having to inject in “waste grounds, bin sheds and lanes yards away from Christmas shoppers”. He declined to take up the offer.
In 2020, 1339 people died in Scotland of a drug-related death. That marked a new record and was 15 times worse than the European average.
Latest estimates released yesterday, based on police reports, have suggested drug death numbers north of the Border may have reached a plateau.
In the quarter from July to September 2021, there were 285 suspected drug deaths, 13 per cent fewer than the previous quarter and 10 per cent less than in the same period the previous year.
The Home Office has continued to bluntly refuse to consider DCRs.
Campaigner Peter Krykant operated his own unofficial safe drug consumption van in Glasgow.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have no plans to introduce drug consumption rooms in the UK. A range of crimes would be committed in the course of running such a facility, by service users and staff, such as possession of a controlled drug, being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug, knowingly permitting the supply of a controlled drug on a premises or encouraging or assisting these and other offences.
“The Home Office published a 10-year drugs strategy which presents the whole-government response to drugs. It will drive down drug supply and demand, which includes supporting people through treatment and recovery and an even tougher response to criminal supply chains and demand that fuels these illegal markets.”