Calls to introduce officially sanctioned rooms for drug addicts to inject themselves have been rejected by the Government.
A new report commissioned by the Drug, Alcohol and Justice Cross-Party Parliamentary Group calls for drug consumption rooms, claiming that they would prevent drug-related deaths.
The Government has rejected the claim and the call for ‘shooting galleries’.
‘No plans’
A Home Office spokesman said: “We have no plans to introduce drug consumption rooms.
“A range of offences is likely to be committed in the operation of drug consumption rooms.
“It is for local police forces to enforce the law in such circumstances and, as with other offences of this type, we would expect them to do so.”
Scotland
However, the introduction of a drug consumption room is being considered in Glasgow.
Aileen Campbell, Scottish Minister for Public Health and Sport, has lobbied the UK Government about the plans, claiming that the move would “meet the needs” of the population.
But Pete Hannigan, a former drug addict who is now a Christian, spoke out against the introduction of drug consumption rooms.
He said: “You’re enabling people to carry on in their addiction. In other words, saying to them ‘we know you’re using, why don’t you come here and use your drugs?'”
Record deaths
Earlier this year, figures revealed that drug-related deaths reached a record high in England and Wales in 2016.
The Office for National Statistics reported that there were 3,744 deaths from drug poisoning registered last year, the highest since comparable records began in 1993.
The study also found that deaths involving heroin and cocaine were at their highest level ever recorded.