SNP’S ‘DEADLY’ DECISION TO TURN DRUGS ACTION INTO CONSTITUTIONAL FIGHT HAS COST LIVES

By Lucy Ashton

The SNP’s decision to turn action on Scotland’s drugs deaths crisis into a constitutional fight has cost lives and delayed progress, Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie has said today.

Speaking ahead of a debate in the Scottish Parliament on Drug Law Reform, Jackie Baillie has said that the Lord Advocate’s decision on prosecution – which effectively gives the green light to a pilot of Safe Consumption Rooms – is welcome but has proven that the SNP could have acted sooner to implement safe consumption.

Despite first championing Safe Consumption Rooms some seven years ago, the SNP failed to act and so allowed progress to stall for years.

And in the meantime, the SNP cut Alcohol and Drug Partnerships by some £46.3 million in real terms.

With 4,000 people dying from drugs since the public health emergency was declared in 2019, Jackie Baillie is demanding the SNP put the people of Scotland and their safety before Nationalist game-playing.

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie, pictured left,  said: “Scotland’s drugs deaths crisis is a national shame, with thousands of lives needlessly lost.

“But the fact is that rather than act to tackle the issue, the SNP has cut drug and alcohol beds and turned the whole issue into a needless constitutional bun fight.

“The Lord Advocate’s decision last week shows us that the SNP’s decision to confect a constitutional fight on Safe Consumption Rooms rather than act has delayed progress for years. No amount of warm words will cut it.”