DRUG SAFETY VAN ON THE MOVE
Krykant aims to set up OD prevention centre at blackspot
CRUSADER Peter Krykant is bidding to set up an overdose prevention van in the country’s worst drug deaths blackspot.
Krykant, who won international renown for his unofficial drugs van in Glasgow, was in Dundee yesterday to identify locations for setting up the facilities.
The Tayside city has the highest long-term death rate per head of any council area in Scotland – an average of 43.1 per 100,000 people between 2016 and 2020, or 63 deaths each year.
Recovering addict Krykant said: “If we could be shown the green light, we could have facilities in Dundee that would provide a safe overdose prevention centre, with full nursing support and peer involvement in its running.
“This could mean people who are connected with the drug taking community can advise on what will work, on what the drug-taking trends are and in administering (overdose reversal drug) naloxone.”
Krykant said that beyond saving the lives of addicts, he hopes to help them overcome stigma and get into employment.
He added: “We keep hearing about radical measures to get us out of the crisis but we have yet to see any truly radical action.
“All I am proposing now is to take best practice ideas from countries like Switzerland and apply them to Scotland, which has worse drug problems than any other European nation.”
This week, he will have talks with Scotland’s drugs minister Angela Constance, as well as prominent MSPs, to explain his plans.
Constance last week said Scotland’s Crown Office is examining proposals to open an overdose prevention facility, which would have to be sanctioned by the Lord Advocate.