Heroin could be ‘legalised’ for addicts as young as 16
Britain’s f irst ‘shooting gallery’ set to feature a smoking garden, pet-sitting service and even a CRECHE as pampered users of all ages pump themselves full of freebie drugs
HEROIN could effectively be legalised in Scotland under plans to set up the UK’s first ever ‘shooting gallery’ for drug addicts.
An official proposal is being drawn up to create a site in Scotland’s biggest city where addicts – possibly as young as 16 – can take class-A drugs under supervision and without fear of arrest. Some could even be given free heroin on prescription.
A new report states that talks with the Scottish Government and Crown Office are at ‘an advanced stage’ to change the law to allow the move to go ahead.
In the report, due to be discussed by the Glasgow City Joint Integration Board of Health and council chiefs tomorrow, an expert group backs the launch of a pilot scheme, in response to soaring drug deaths and a recent HIV outbreak.
Under the plans, addicts would receive free bus tickets to help them get to the centre, where they would be allowed to inject heroin under medical supervision.
A specially-built ‘smoking garden’ could also be created for addicts who prefer to inhale rather than inject their drugs.
Users would also be offered assistance with housing advice and help with collecting benefits.
Also under consideration is a creche facility for parents and somewhere for addicts to leave their pets while ‘shooting up’.
The centre could be open 24 hours a day to enable sex workers to attend, and could be advertised in dentists’ waiting rooms and even police stations.
The report states: ‘Discussions are under way with the Scottish Government and Crown Office... regarding a potential exemption or amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) to permit the operation of a safer consumption facility in Glasgow city centre.’
Elsewhere it notes that ‘discussions to allow the proposals to proceed are at an advanced stage’.
But last night a leading academic warned that the proposal was a dangerous development likely to further entrench the country’s drug problems.
Professor Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research, said: ‘It seems to me they have completely forgotten that treatment services should be there to get addicts off drugs, not enable them to use drugs with greater ease.
‘This is terrifying in a number of ways. It means that any addict, caught carrying an illegal substance, can just say they are en route to this injecting centre, so the hands of police are effectively tied.
‘Scotland is drifting down the road to legalisation, led by liberal doctors who can see no solution other than prescribing substances. And one such facility would never achieve what they are trying to do. It would be a thin end of the wedge and lead to a number of these facilities.’
The report, by an expert group of health, social work, charity and law enforcement figures, explains that the shooting gallery is intended to offer injecting drug users a safe environment, where drug-taking can be ‘managed’, out of sight of the general public.
The facility is also intended to reduce the number of needles discarded in public places. By prescribing heroin, the scheme would also remove the need for addicts to commit crimes to feed their habit.
Proposed locations for the facility include Trongate in the city centre and Hunter Street, in the city’s East End.
However, it is feared it would become a ‘honeypot for the drugs market’ attracting dealers and other users.
The ‘consumption facility’ would be promoted through a publicity campaign, with posters in dental surgeries and police stations. Police would need to be ‘lenient’, the paper adds.
Although heroin is illegal and drug classification is reserved to Westminster, the working group is discussing an exemption or amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and has sought assistance from the Lord Advocate.
In a section named ‘Risk Implications’, it says: ‘2015 saw a 15 per cent increase in drug-related deaths in Glasgow, with the city accounting for almost a quarter of the total Scottish figure.’
The group recommends that a business case be drawn up and brought back before the joint board in Glasgow next February.
Talks with the Scottish Government and the Crown Office are taking place.
Public Health Minister Aileen Campbell said: ‘The Scottish Government
‘Terrifying in a number of ways’
has no plans to introduce drug consumption rooms or heroinassisted treatment. However, while misuse of drugs legislation remains a reserved issue, the Lord Advocate would have to authorise any proposals for establishing supervised injecting facilities.’
A Crown Office spokesman said: ‘The Lord Advocate will carefully consider any detailed proposal which is made.’