DEATH BY HEROIN
The drugs death crisis in Scotland and across
the wider UK will come under the spotlight at a major conference in Glasgow
next month organised by the UK Government.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack welcomed the
event and said Scotland's drugs deaths situation is a "tragedy." It
comes after 2018 saw 1187 fatalities, the highest on record and a quarter of
the UK level.
The summit will bring together drug recovery
experts, health professionals, government ministers and senior police officers
from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They will discuss
how to work together to best prevent deaths related to drug misuse, which
reached 4,265 across the UK in 2018.
The Scottish Government has been calling for
the introduction of consumption rooms where addicts can safely inject, but this
has been rejected by UK ministers.
Mr Jack said: “The high numbers of lives lost
to drugs in Scotland is a tragedy, a huge cause for concern.
“I am pleased that the UK Government is to
bring experts together from all parts of the country, to share experience about
tackling this terrible scourge."
The event will also boost collaboration
between the UK Government and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland
administrations on this UK-wide issue with Professor Dame Carol Black, the
independent reviewer of drugs, presenting her findings to the devolved
administrations at the summit.
Kit Malthouse, the UK minister for Crime and
policing will chair the event.
“People are dying from drugs every day across
the UK, and this summit will bring us together to tackle the issue of drug
misuse," he added.
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| A Young Minds Mural At Brighton Seafront Sussex UK |
“We must have firm enforcement action and do
all we can on prevention, recovery and treatment too. I look forward to meeting
key individuals from across the UK and listening to their views on addressing
this challenge.”
Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under Secretary of
State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care, will also attend the
event.
Representatives from Public Health England and
the Department of Health and Social Care will also be invited to attend, along
with their counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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The legal framework relating to the misuse of
drugs is reserved for the UK Government, but the Scottish and Welsh governments
and the Northern Ireland Executive have their own strategies to preventing the
harms of drug misuse in areas where responsibility is devolved, including
healthcare, criminal justice, housing, and education.
UPDATE:
The Scottish Government has accused the Tory administration in
Westminster of hijacking its plans for a (Link) Scottish Summit on the drug deaths crisis.
Details for the crucial conference in Glasgow were originally
unveiled by Holyrood – but a date of February 27 was announced by
the UK Government after zero consultation with counterparts in Scotland.
That decision provoked anger as both administrations are miles apart on crucial
issues, notably the decriminalisation of possession of drugs – which the Record
has campaigned for and which the SNP supports.
The Tories have also rigidly
opposed a drug consumption room in Glasgow, despite almost
unanimous support elsewhere.
The summit date announcement came as a shock to Scottish Public
Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick, who issued an extraordinary
statement, making clear he had been pressing Westminster for movement on the
meeting, due to bring together “drug recovery experts, health professionals,
ministers and senior police officers from across England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland” He said: “I was, therefore, very surprised that the UK
Government announced a summit in Glasgow without any consultation with the Scottish
Government and Glasgow.
"What Scotland faces in terms of drug deaths is nothing
short of a public health emergency and we will engage constructively with any
attempts to save lives.
“Regardless of how the UK Government has chosen to go about
this, what really matters is reducing harm and saving lives.” He said the Scottish Government would “now, again, attempt to
work with the UK Government to facilitate” the summit. Despite repeated pleas, it looked unlikely that Home
Secretary Priti Patel would bother attending the key talks. FitzPatrick has written to Patel on three occasions asking
her to “commit to attending” a summit on this issue. The UK Government said underlings Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care, and Scottish Secretary Alister
Jack would attend the event.The UK Minister for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service, Kit
Malthouse, who will chair the event, said: “This summit will bring us together
to tackle the issue of drug misuse. We must have firm enforcement action and do
all we can on prevention, recovery and treatment too.”
Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon claims any Tory ministers in attendance
will make a mockery of the process if they reject out of hand any measures that
clearly have the support of the majority of delegates. Lennon said: “As a minimum, the Tory Government should be
giving the go-ahead to a pilot for a safer drug consumption facility in
Glasgow.”
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