A CAMPAIGNER has launched plans to set up a safer injecting facility for drug users on the streets of Glasgow, despite the UK Government ruling out proposals to amend laws that would allow an official pilot to be set up in the city.

Peter Krykant, an HIV street worker who has experienced addiction and is now in recovery, told the Sunday National that he was “no longer able to sit back and do nothing” following two days of drug summits by the Scottish and UK Governments where no firm actions were agreed.

The UK Government has repeated refused to back a pilot for a safer injecting site and in 2017 proposals from a Glasgow-wide partnership failed to get the backing from the Lord Advocate.

On Thursday Kit Malthouse, the UK Minister Crime and Policing, claimed the issue was “a distraction”.

At the Scottish summit speakers from Glasgow City Council, NHS and the Scottish Government claimed a safer injecting site would save lives in Scotland’s biggest city. There are now so-called “fix rooms” in countries around the world including Denmark and Canada. In both countries activists and campaigners set-up sites illegally in mobile vans or tents before the policy was adopted by their governments.

Krykant is fundraising to buy a mobile van which he will refit, with life-saving Naloxone onsite, in case of overdose. The hygienic facility will offer harm reduction advice, wound care and sign-post people to support services. His Crowdfunder has so far raised £1200 in 24 hours.

He said: “After two days of drug summits I felt that if someone doesn’t step forward and get involved in activism then nothing is going to move forward. That is how it started in Denmark, where activists bought a couple of vans and it developed from there.”

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Krykant, who was street homeless 20 years ago, claimed he currently has nowhere to send vulnerable, injecting drug users that he sees on the streets in order to get the help they need. He added: “I’ve been through this myself. I know I’m going to be doing something illegal but I can’t continue to sit back and do nothing. If that means I’ll be arrested then so be it.”

He has so far received widespread backing from fellow campaigners and politicians.

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Rev Brian Casey of Springburn Parish Church, who spoke at the UK summit on Thursday and has conducted hundreds of funerals due to drug deaths said he was supportive of the plan.

“We’ve gone beyond the point of talking,” he said. “If politicians are continuing to talk then we are going to see people in recovery take action,” he added. “If it comes to an intended prosecution, I would hope that the Procurator Fiscal and the Advocate General would see common sense. This will save lives and surely that’s the most important thing.”

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Monica Lennon, Labour spokesperson for health has also offered her support. She said: “It was really disappointing that the two drug summits didn’t reach an agreement, so it was only a matter of time before campaigners took matters into their own hands.”

However she stressed that a safer injecting facility was not the only answer, calling for investment in treatment, including residential rehab.

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A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The introduction of such facilities will require a change in the law, and the Scottish Government cannot condone any action which would be against the law.” It will continue to push for legal changes, he added. The UK Government continues to insist that it is not possible to set-up a safer injection facility within the legal framework.

Police Scotland said it was “committed to new ideas to keep vulnerable people safer”, but claimed injection facilities presented “challenges” in terms of the Misuse of Drugs Act.