£5k legal bill for doomed heroin clinic

Cost of QC’s ‘shooting gallery’ advice

NEARLY £5,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on legal advice for a doomed heroin ‘shooting gallery’.

Plans for a clinic where addicts could inject themselves were blocked by Scotland’s top prosecutor last year.

But the Mail can reveal a QC was hired to give an opinion on the proposed scheme, and this was passed to police in the hope of bolstering the case for the facility.

Supporters had hoped Lord Advocate James Wolffe, QC, would give permission for drugs misuse laws to be relaxed, allowing the launch of the facility.

But he rejected the move in November, which meant thousands of pounds were taken from the public purse in preparation for an abortive project.

Health bosses are now pressing ahead with a modified version of the plan, in which medical-grade heroin would be given to addicts, a practice that is already legal.

It will be discussed at a meeting in Glasgow on Wednesday.

United Nations drugs consultant Dr Ian Oliver said: ‘There was no need to employ an expensive QC when elementary re search on the internet and from local experts about the negative effects of socalled “safe injecting rooms” [elsewhere in the world] would have saved them the money.

‘It would be irresponsible of any Government to allow different approaches in the country. The whole emphasis of our drugs system is meant to be to reduce dependency and misuse of drugs, not facilitate and encourage it.’

Dr Oliver, a former Grampian Police chief constable, added: ‘Drug-dependent people who wish to refrain from drugs need rehabilitation and help to abstain.’

Addicts would have been able to inject under medical supervision at the facility in Glasgow.

It is hoped the clinic can still go ahead but offering medical-grade heroin to users rather than letting addicts inject their own drugs.

Under the law, heroin can be given out under tightly controlled conditions. Mr Wolffe had been asked to grant an exemption to ensure staff supervising addicts injecting their own drugs would not be prosecuted.

Supporters say it is desperately needed because of rising drug deaths and HIV infection rates.

Sources said at the time the Crown Office did not want to be drawn into a row about the legality of the initiative.

Project officials said the ‘cost of the QC’s advice in relation to the proposal for a safer drug consumption facility was £4,560’. The opinion has not been published and the QC has not been named.

Glasgow City Council and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde split the cost of the advice equally.

Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, which commissioned the advice, said: ‘Seeking expert legal opinion to help advance a proposal that could prevent drug deaths, stem the spread of HIV infection and save health and social care services millions of pounds cannot fairly be described as a waste of money.’

The Mail reported in June that plans for the ‘shooting gallery’ were approved by health and council officials. It later emerged that £100,000 bequeathed to the NHS was spent on the proposals.

The Scottish Government is lobbying for a relaxation of drug laws, reserved to Westminster, to allow a clinic to be set up.

But Theresa May rejected the plan, saying: ‘Our aim should be to ensure people come off drugs, do not go on drugs in the first place, and keep clear of drugs.’

The Scottish Government has said it remains ‘supportive of the principles behind the proposal’.