The SNP must stop “doubling down” on their plans for more drug consumption rooms and instead back a right to recovery for those struggling with addiction, the Scottish Conservatives will urge today (Monday).
This approach lies at the heart of the party’s new policy paper, which will be officially launched by leader Russell Findlay and shadow drugs and alcohol minister Annie Wells at a community pharmacy in Glasgow.
Annie Wells says that the SNP’s experiment with The Thistle drug consumption room in Glasgow has “monumentally failed” to shift the dial on Scotland’s drug deaths rate, is causing misery for residents and therefore must be shut down.
Annie Wells has also pledged to reintroduce the Right to Recovery Bill following May’s election after it was “shamefully rejected” by SNP and Green MSPs at Holyrood in October last year. The bill was backed by frontline experts and would guarantee a right to treatment, including rehabilitation, for all those who need it.
Russell Findlay said that Scotland having the worst drug-death rate in Europe is one of the most “abject failures” from Nicola Sturgeon’s time in office, adding that the SNP’s “reckless” approach has flooded Scotland’s streets with drugs.
He said that if we are ever to tackle the drug deaths emergency, it is vital that the SNP do not win a majority in May – and he urged Scots to vote for the Scottish Conservatives on their peach ballot paper wherever they are in the country.
Scottish Conservative shadow drug and alcohol minister Annie Wells said: “Scotland’s appalling level of drug deaths is our national shame under the SNP.
“Yet nationalist ministers still believe they know best how to tackle this crisis – despite having failed miserably over the last two decades.
“Their latest approach is to double down on state-sponsored drug-taking facilities, like The Thistle in Glasgow, and roll out more of them across the country.
“The Thistle has monumentally failed to reduce our drug-death rate, which is the worst in Europe, and we believe it should be shut down.
“The millions being wasted on this drug consumption room would be far better spent on rehab and recovery places for those struggling with addiction – but we know the nationalists do not want to do this.
“SNP and Green MSPs shamefully rejected our Right to Recovery Bill last year and played politics with people’s lives.
“Following May’s election, we will bring that bill back in the hope that common sense will prevail.
“Our bold new policy paper will give proper support to those who need it most and will ditch the SNP’s agenda that has failed the most vulnerable for too long.”
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “Nicola Sturgeon was forced to admit that she shamefully took her eye off the ball in tackling Scotland’s rising drug-death rate and it remains one of the most abject failures of her time as First Minister.
“The SNP’s reckless policy decisions have allowed Scotland’s streets to be flooded with drugs and over 1,000 Scots are losing their lives every year as a result.
“This disgraceful situation doesn’t have to continue. But if we are ever to tackle our drugs deaths emergency, we must stop an SNP majority at May’s election.
“The best way for voters to do that is by using their peach ballot paper to vote for the Scottish Conservatives across Scotland.”