Jan 10, 2025 08:46 PM
(This post was last modified: Jan 10, 2025 09:02 PM by C C.)
"Legal" purely in the sense of not arresting for use of illegal drugs there.
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Starmer faces calls to pilot legal drug consumption rooms as 1st to open in UK
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/k...t-34460074
INTRO: Keir Starmer is facing calls to extend Scotland’s first safe drug consumption room to England and Wales ahead of its opening next week. The Thistle, the first of its kind in the UK, will open in the east end of Glasgow on Monday at an existing NHS enhanced drug treatment service. Community leaders have said the project will "offer hope" to hundreds of people.
An estimated 400 to 500 people who inject in public in Glasgow city centre will be helped by the centre every two weeks, local leaders have said. The Scottish Government, which is providing £2million a year in funding for the centre, hopes it will also help drug users access wider support, as well as reduce the risk of viruses such as HIV.
Intravenous drug use creates pressure on the NHS, including amputations due to infected injection wounds, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and complex health problems, with potentially critical health issues to be addressed at an earlier stage at The Thistle.
Campaigners lobbied for almost a decade for the facility after HIV infections surged in 2016 due to people injecting drugs but it was blocked by the Home Office. The centre was finally established after Scotland's top prosecutor, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, made clear prosecuting users of such a facility for possession of drugs would not be in the public interest.
The PM's spokesman said on Friday: “Every death from the misuse of drugs is a tragedy for those who’ve lost their lives, their families and their wider communities.” But he added: “We have no plans currently to change UK drug laws and the UK Government will not interfere with and respects the independence of the Lord Advocate in Scotland when it comes to these issues. As you’d expect, we would look at any evidence emerging from the pilot however I would restate that there are no plans for these pilots in England and Wales.” (MORE - details)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Starmer faces calls to pilot legal drug consumption rooms as 1st to open in UK
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/k...t-34460074
INTRO: Keir Starmer is facing calls to extend Scotland’s first safe drug consumption room to England and Wales ahead of its opening next week. The Thistle, the first of its kind in the UK, will open in the east end of Glasgow on Monday at an existing NHS enhanced drug treatment service. Community leaders have said the project will "offer hope" to hundreds of people.
An estimated 400 to 500 people who inject in public in Glasgow city centre will be helped by the centre every two weeks, local leaders have said. The Scottish Government, which is providing £2million a year in funding for the centre, hopes it will also help drug users access wider support, as well as reduce the risk of viruses such as HIV.
Intravenous drug use creates pressure on the NHS, including amputations due to infected injection wounds, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and complex health problems, with potentially critical health issues to be addressed at an earlier stage at The Thistle.
Campaigners lobbied for almost a decade for the facility after HIV infections surged in 2016 due to people injecting drugs but it was blocked by the Home Office. The centre was finally established after Scotland's top prosecutor, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, made clear prosecuting users of such a facility for possession of drugs would not be in the public interest.
The PM's spokesman said on Friday: “Every death from the misuse of drugs is a tragedy for those who’ve lost their lives, their families and their wider communities.” But he added: “We have no plans currently to change UK drug laws and the UK Government will not interfere with and respects the independence of the Lord Advocate in Scotland when it comes to these issues. As you’d expect, we would look at any evidence emerging from the pilot however I would restate that there are no plans for these pilots in England and Wales.” (MORE - details)