Do we REALLY want to see shocking scenes like this on Scotland’s streets?
Drug ‘shooting gallery’ plans are condemned by UN expert
A UNITED Nations drugs expert has warned against introducing ‘shooting galleries’ for heroin addicts after a similar scheme in Canada saw overdose deaths soar.
Dr Ian Oliver, a former Grampian Police chief constable, has condemned plans for addicts to inject themselves under medical supervision.
Shocking images show a man overdosing in the street near a ‘safer consumption’ room in Vancouver, with some observers claiming the area now resembles a ‘war zone’.
The Scottish Government and drugs campaigners backed moves to set up a similar clinic in Glasgow, although it was ruled unlawful by Lord Advocate James Wolffe, QC.
A compromise will see the launch of a heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) facility, where addicts will be given pharmaceutical heroin.
Scottish Tory public health spokesman Annie Wells said: ‘The SNP would have you believe these facilities are the remedy to Scotland’s drugs problem.
‘But from this evidence, it appears they could have the opposite impact – most addicts want help to stop, not help to indulge.’
Vancouver’s Insite clinic opened in 2003, but critics say addicts collapsing in nearby streets is a growing problem.
Medics behind the scheme say some addicts who do not want to wait to use the facility take drugs in the street as there is a greater chance of them getting medical attention if they do overdose.
Canadian health authorities have declared a public health emergency over the rising use of fentanyl, a powerful and deadly synthetic painkiller.
A further 25 safer consumption rooms have opened across the country but the number of people dying from overdoses continues to rise, from 3,017 in 2016 to 4,460 in 2018 – equivalent to one life lost every two hours.
Writing in today’s Mail, Dr Oliver says he believes ‘there is a sinister agenda behind these Trojan horse projects, which are in reality a vehicle for drug legalisation’.
But Dr Mark Lysyshyn, medical health officer at Vancouver Coastal Health, said the rise in overdose deaths was because not all drugusers take advantage of facilities such as Insite. He said: ‘Safer consumption rooms can’t save the people who don’t go to them.’
He said Glasgow should set up a similar clinic because there was an ‘ethical obligation’ to save lives. He added: ‘People don’t go blind after drinking moonshine any more – if we are able to make alcohol “safe”, to the extent that people don’t risk blindness, then why not with drugs?’
The Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership – consisting of council officials and NHS experts – is pressing for a Canadastyle shooting gallery here, and is also behind the HAT scheme.
A spokesman said: ‘We are supportive of the need for a safer drug consumption facility to play a part in tackling the HIV outbreak and the increasing number of drug related deaths and harms.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘What Scotland faces in terms of drugs-related deaths is an emergency, and this is why Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick is convening an expert group to advise on what further changes could help save lives.’
‘Could have the opposite impact’