A FORMER president of Switzerland is joining an SNP MP’s effort to allow drug consumption rooms to be opened in Scotland.
Ronnie Cowan and Ruth Dreifuss will meet with the UK’s Policing and Drugs Minister Kit Malthouse in an effort to turn around Westminster’s drugs strategy.
Drug deaths in the UK are at a record level, and Scotland has the highest level of overdose deaths per head of population in the world.
Many countries, including Switzerland, have seen their number of drug-related deaths decrease since opening drug consumption rooms.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson says drug consumption rooms just encourage consumption of drugs
The rooms are places where people can use drugs under the supervision of trained personnel, who provide safe conditions for users and can act to prevent overdoses.
The Scottish Government backs introducing the safe consumption spaces, but the UK has repeatedly rejected the idea.
Cowan directly asked Boris Johnson about the policy in December. The Prime Minister said he did not “want to do anything that would encourage the consumption of more drugs”.
Ronnie Cowan was not satisfied with Boris Johnson's response to his queries on drug policy
Dreifuss pushed drug consumption rooms in Switzerland, which now has 13 facilities across eight cities. She played a key role in reforming the Swiss Confederation’s drugs policy – putting the focus on prevention, therapy and rehabilitation rather than crime.
Cowan said Scotland has the desire to open safe consumption spaces and cross-party support in order to establish one.
“To help nudge the UK Government into a place where they can facilitate such a step I have recruited the expertise of a past president of Switzerland, Ruth Dreifuss,” he said.
“I have brokered a meeting with Ruth, Kit Malthouse and myself. The fact that Kit is the Minster for Policing tells you everything that you need to know.
READ MORE: Drugs activist Peter Krykant breaks down in tears in heart-wrenching video
“Drug related harm is a health crisis that we are trying to arrest our way out of.
“Ruth was instrumental in Switzerland’s drug policy reforms and understands both the legal and health issues. My hope is that she can crack open a window of enlightenment that can shine some common sense into the dark recesses of the Home Office where the hang em high brigade are ensconced.”
He added that while drug consumption rooms are not a “magic wand”, they have saved lives and helped rehabilitate people everywhere they have been established. No country has rolled back the spaces after launching them, he said.
READ MORE: MSPs vote for motion declaring Scotland's drug deaths as public health emergency
At Holyrood last month, the Scottish Parliament unanimously agreed a motion declaring Scotland’s drug deaths a public health emergency.
There have been nearly 3400 deaths linked to drug misuse over the last three years.
A Scottish Labour amendment adding support for public health interventions like safe consumption facilities was agreed by 113 votes to one.
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