Tory backing for drug consumption rooms
U-turn will see Scottish party give support to pilot scheme
A CONTROVERSIAL pilot scheme for drug consumption rooms will be backed by Scotland’s Conservative leader, it was announced yesterday.
Following a dramatic U-turn on the policy, Douglas Ross revealed he would raise the proposal with Kit Malthouse, Minister for Crime and Policing.
The pair were due to speak last night after Mr Ross’s visit to a drug recovery group with Nicola Sturgeon.
Last week, Mr Ross dropped his opposition to drug consumption rooms – an initiative the Scottish Government has been eager to set up in recent years. SNP ministers believe such a move could help to tackle Scotland’s soaring drugs deaths, which last year reached 1,339, the highest such fatality rate of any European country.
Drug consumption rooms would let addicts take their own drugs under supervision. So far the UK Government has ruled the proposal is illegal, with the Tories at Holyrood opposed to the move.
Speaking to The Scottish Daily Mail earlier this month, Mr Malthouse said he had an ‘open mind’ and would enter ‘further discussions’ with the SNP.
Just a week later, Mr Ross revealed his U-turn – meaning the Conservatives will now support a pilot scheme north of the Border.
Mr Ross said yesterday: ‘I will be speaking to [Mr Malthouse] later on today. Like me, he still has significant reservations about drug consumption rooms. He’s keen to engage with the Scottish Government on this and see what can be done in terms of a trial.’
Mr Ross said Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain had ‘brought forward a different interpretation’ from her predecessor which would mean a pilot did not necessarily need UK Government approval.
He acknowledged his U-turn would not be popular with all those in his party.
Asked if grass-roots supporters had raised concerns, he said ‘they should be horrified at four people losing their lives in Scotland every single day, 1,339 people losing their lives in the last year’.
He added: ‘There are people very supportive, there are people within the party that have been asking for this for some time. There are others that remain concerned about the proposals.’
Mr Ross said he had been convinced to change his stance by charity leaders who helped him with his Right to Recovery Bill. Miss Sturgeon said it was ‘welcome’ that he had ‘opened his mind on safe consumption rooms’. She added she was ‘completely open-minded’ about Mr Ross’s plan to put the right for drug and alcohol treatment into law.
In a joint event, Miss Sturgeon and Mr Ross visited a community group in Glasgow’s Haghill neighbourhood that runs activities and a recovery cafe, speaking to volunteers and people seeking help.
Ahead of the visit, community group founder Kenny Trainer said ‘people are dying in the streets’ while politicians argued about how to tackle the drug crisis.
After meeting both leaders, Mr Trainer said they were ‘fantastic’, but he bemoaned the length of time it is taking for changes to be considered and said ‘they’re not doing enough’. Of the joint visit with Mr Ross, Miss Sturgeon said it was ‘good to recognise where we can work together’.