“Glasgow’s bleak drug-taking rooms will only lead to more deaths. The SNP’s latest plan to tackle the drugs crisis is to remove any responsibility from addicts and encourage them to keep on using. It is a retrograde step.

When the SNP came to power there were 352 rehab beds and 445 annual deaths. A decade later there were 70 beds and over 1,000 deaths. I believe that in its current format, where nothing is asked of or expected of the addicts except that they keep breathing, the new consumption rooms will lead to many more deaths. 

Ultimately what will save lives is stopping the addicts using, but there is no deterrent in this scheme and no incentive to behave responsibly. The same authorities who pump out dire warnings about the consequences of eating bacon appear to see no irony in facilitating the consumption of lethal and illegal drugs.

When oversight passed from the Scottish justice department to health in 2015, cuts were imposed on drug and alcohol partnerships. According to Audit Scotland, that led to a 22 per cent fall in funding. Expensive rehab beds bore the brunt.” @GillianBowditch