Plea for drug injecting clinic to be raid-free zone
HEALTH chiefs behind Glasgow’s first legal heroin ‘shooting gallery’ will appeal for immunity from Scotland’s top prosecutor to ensure police do not raid the pioneering unit when it opens.
As it emerged the controversial fix rooms will be sited in a busy Glasgow shopping district, health chiefs are poised to appeal to the Lord Advocate to change sentencing policy – because asking the UK Government to change the law would take too long.
The location for the safer injecting pilot scheme has been identified, beside the Clyde between Trongate and the Saltmarket in the city.
Both users and staff of the Glasgow pilot scheme – officially dubbed the Safer Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) could face prosecution as the law stands.
Not only could staff be face ‘art and part’ accusations for assisting in a crime, if they so much as receive a bin containing a used needle with drugs residue, they could be charged with dealing, under strict interpretation of the law.
A report from Suzanne Millar, of Glasgow’s Social Work department, to be laid before Glasgow Integration Joint Board, responsible for health and care services in the city, today says that the SDCF is dependent on a legal exemption for the facility which allows users to take street drugs they have bought safely, under medical supervision.
“It is clear that a SDCF cannot be established unless there is either a change in the law or a change in current prosecution policy,” she explains.
With drugs laws reserved to Westminster, any change in the law would need the UK government’s support and is likely to be years away, she adds.
As a result, the preferred option in light of the “public health emergency” faced in Glasgow is to seek a change in prosecution policy from the Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC.
Police Scotland will also have to agree a ‘tolerance zone’ in the vicinity of the SDCF, if the experiment is to be a success.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said it was yet to be approached by Glasgow IJB in relation to its plans.
A Crown Office spokesman said: “Misuse of drugs legislation remains a reserved issue and any such scheme has a number of different policy considerations that the Scottish Government will want to consider in detail.”
The report confirms the cost has been estimated at £2,355,680 a year.