The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
SNP and Tory leaders in link-up over drug crisis
Nicola Sturgeon and Douglas Ross have said they are “open-minded” to each other’s ideas after a warning that drug addicts were “dying in the street” while they argued.
In a joint visit, the first minister and leader of the Scottish Conservatives visited a community group in Glasgow’s Haghill neighbourhood that runs activities and a recovery cafe, speaking to volunteers and people seeking help.
The pair have previously clashed over the drugs deaths crisis, which claimed the lives of a record 1,339 Scots last year, with Mr Ross inviting the SNP leader to visit the Bluevale Community Club – an offer she accepted last month.
Mr Ross has said he is now willing to look at the evidence of whether safe drug consumption rooms could help cut drug deaths, and promised not to oppose the Scottish Government if they launch a pilot scheme.
Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon has said she is “completely open-minded” about the Scottish Conservatives’ plan to put the right for drug and alcohol treatment into law.
Ahead of the visit, community group founder, Kenny Trainer, had warned that “people are dying in the streets” while politicians argued about how to tackle the drug death crisis.
After meeting both leaders, Mr Trainer said they were “fantastic”, but bemoaned the length of time it is taking for changes to be considered and said “they’re not doing enough”.
Ms Sturgeon, who was joined on the visit by drug policy minister Angela Constance, said: “We’ve tried to do things to address and turn around the drugs problem but clearly what we’ve been doing up until now has not been effective.
“I can do that traditional politician thing and I can defend what we’ve done before in order not to admit any failings or I can say actually, much more candidly, we need to try different things, we need to try different approaches, we need to put more investment into this.”
Commenting on a rare visit alongside a leader of another political party, Ms Sturgeon said: “He has opened his mind on safe consumption rooms.
“I’ve opened my mind to putting a right to the recovery into statute, although I would repeat what I said earlier on – it’s actually what we do to give that substance that matters and that’s what we’re getting on with right now.
“I think that also needs to be a recognition that some of the drivers of drug misuse lie in poverty, in a broken benefits system, so there’s a part for the Westminster Government to play here as well.”
Mr Ross added: “Today was not the day for any political soundbites. I made it very clear and, I think and hope the first minister did the same, she wasn’t there to attack the Conservatives and I wasn’t there to attack the SNP.
“This was about the first minister of the country, the leader of the opposition, coming together to show a united front on an issue that is a national scandal.
“Hopefully, that reassures both the communities we visited and people across Scotland that their politicians are going to take it seriously.
“We don’t necessarily agree 100% on how to tackle this issue but, at least, if we can go to a visit like this together and show that we are willing to park our politics at the door and focus on the issue in front of us, I hope that provides some comfort.”