THE prospect of a Home-Office-approved drug consumption room (DCR) in Glasgow looks all but over, with a UK Government minister describing it as a “distraction from the main event”.

Speaking to journalists in the city ahead of a UK Government drug summit, Minister for Crime and Policing Kit Malthouse insisted he was “open minded” but said there would be no change in the law.

There is broad support for a DCR in Glasgow.

The project would allow users to bring drugs into the facility and take them under controlled conditions, providing them with sterile needles as well as separate access to treatment.

Some campaigners have called for a room to be opened in Glasgow in defiance of Westminster.

Yesterday Malthouse said any such action would be a matter for Police Scotland.

“Well if there is a commission of a crime it would be for Police Scotland to decide to arrest those people,” he said.

Back in 2018 Scotland’s top legal adviser, the Lord Advocate, said the facility would be illegal unless the UK amends the Misuse of Drugs Act, which applies across the country.

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Yesterday, Malthouse said: “First of all, we can’t pretend that they’re not legally very difficult. They involve the commission of several types of crimes and the tolerance therefore of those crimes and that presents us with a legal and a legislative difficulty.

He said the evidence around the world was “mixed”.

“I am concerned that it is a distraction from the main event, which is fundamentally that there needs to be more concentration and resource on innovative and different kinds of treatment.

“And making sure that we deal with underlying health complaints is critical.”

“I’ve always tried to shy away from this notion that there is a silver bullet solution to what are often complicated and difficult social problems and I worry that this is being used as that kind of silver bullet.“

“I’m coming today with an open mind. But there are in my view, there are much bigger and wider issues to deal with than drug consumption rooms.”

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He said the drug death crisis in Scotland was far too urgent to be “wrangling over” DCRs.

It was the second meeting on drugs to be held at the Scottish Event Campus in two days, with the Scottish Government hosting its own summit on Wednesday.

Yesterday’s summit saw the publication of a Home-Office-commissioned report into drug misuse in the UK – though the analysis focused mostly on England and Wales.

Professor Dame Carol Black said the cost of the illicit trade to society stands at around £19 billion a year and added budget constraints have negatively affected the main agencies responsible for halting their supply.

Black told the audience: “We have a cohort of people who, as I did the review, I considered we were serving less and less well.

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“If you had cancer and let’s say diabetes we would try very, very hard to treat you with the best drugs available as quickly as possible to get on top of the problem.

“I just ask you to reflect what we might do for people who have a rather different and very complex chronic condition because I do believe addiction to be a chronic condition once you have it.”

She added that those addicted to drugs will “do anything to serve that addiction,” including commit crime.

“Recovery is as important as treatment. If you don’t do this people will go back to their habits,” she said.

The report said the revenue raised by drugs in England and Wales is £9.4bn greater than the UK revenue of Aldi’s £8.7bn in 2016/17.