Jump to content

 

 

The SNP are Morons


Recommended Posts

 

4th June 2018

UK Government accepts drugs fix rooms will work - but won't allow Glasgow to open one

 
By By Stewart Paterson and Stephen Naysmith
Glasgow's safer injecting room would cut drug-related litter in the city centre, according to its backers. Pic Credit- Nigel Brunsdan

Glasgow's safer injecting room would cut drug-related litter in the city centre, according to its backers. Pic Credit- Nigel Brunsdan

 
    
 

PLANS for a 'fix room' where addicts in Glasgow would be able to inject illegal drugs under medical supervision are to be thwarted by the Home Office, it has been confirmed.

 

While the UK Government's own advisors concede safe drug injecting facilities can be effective in protecting both drug users and the public, ministers insist they will not change the law to enable the setting up of drug consumption rooms (DCRs).

However ministers are happy for Glasgow to go ahead with plans for a number of addicts with persistent drug problems to be given heroin on prescription.

 

Last month councillors voted to send a letter to the then Home Secretary Amber Rudd, inviting her to visit Glasgow to see plans for a pilot safer drug injecting scheme for herself and asking for drug laws - which are reserved to Westminster - to be changed to allow the project to go ahead.

Now in a letter from the UK Government to the Council's Chief Executive, the UK Government's Drugs Legislation Team has confirmed ministers' opposition to this.

 

It says there is no legal framework for setting up DCRs and there are no plans to amend the law. "A range of offences are likely to be committed in the operation of DCRs", the letter warns.

Glasgow's plans for a pilot safer drug injecting scheme in the centre of the city are aimed at cutting the burgeoning drug death figures and helping a hard core of around 500 addicts who regularly inject drugs in public. It is expected to be located in Calton, near the city centre where public drug use is most prevalent.

However the proposal was derailed and put on hold after the Lord Advocate ruled it could not be established without a change in the law.

The new letter says the department recognises both the need to tackle drug related deaths, and the health benefits of the 'fix room'.

The Government's own report in 2014 found "there is some evidence for the effectiveness of drug consumption rooms," the letter admits. That report highlighted benefits including reducing the nuisance of drug taking in public spaces and reducing the health risks for drug users.

 

Meanwhile the Government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has reported that safer injecting rooms in Vancouver, Canada and Sydney, Australia have been successful in reducing the risks faced by those who inject and cutting overdose fatalities.

But the letter concludes Glasgow must abide by UK drug policy, which emphasises recovery from addiction: "The UK's approach on drugs remains clear - we must prevent drug use in our communities and support people dependent on drugs through treatment and recovery," it says.

The drugs trade and the use of illegal drugs identified in the 47 year-old Misuse of Drugs Act is so harmful that any possession must be dealt with strictly, it says. "The Government is not prepared to sanction or condone activities that support the organised trade that facilitates the availability of drugs and hurts individuals and communities."

The Home Office believes a fix room in Glasgow could raise ethical issues for medics and practical difficulties for police.

The Government's approach is "balanced" it says, including support for measures helping individuals to recover from addiction, but also backing the use of needle and syringe exchange programmes and widening the availability of Naloxone - a drug which helps block the effects of heroin and can be used to prevent overdose.

The letter says: "Whilst the Government will not change the law to allow DCRs, wee support a range of evidenced-base approaches to reduce the health-related harms associated with drug misuse."

This includes Methadone and the kind of Heroin Assisted Treatment which is also proposed for Glasgow and which is already legal under existing drug laws, it adds: "We fully support local areas that pursue this approach, including the Glasgow proposal.

Mhairi Hunter, Glasgow's Convener for Health and Social Care Integration, said the letter showed the Home Office were listening.

“Within the Home Office letter there is a far greater acknowledgement of the evidence in favour of safer consumption rooms than we have ever seen before. It shows that continuing to highlight the benefits of DCRs is having an impact on thinking in the Home Office.

 

“The reports highlighted by Home Office link DCRs to reductions in drug deaths, risky injecting and public nuisance as well as better engagement with vulnerable drug users who are otherwise remote from support services.

“This is exactly what we have been saying in Glasgow for the past two years. “We do understand the sticking points for the Home Office and work has already been undertaken to address those concerns."

She was not discouraged, she said. "I see a clear basis for on-going dialogue with the Home Office about the proposal for safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow. “The public health case is as compelling as ever. All the evidence shows that a SCDF in Glasgow will prevent drug deaths, stem the spread of HIV infection, reduce drug-related litter and save services millions of pounds each year."
 
   
Edited by BEARGER
Link to post
Share on other sites

Opening one would be the tip of the iceberg as you would need one in every town, then the staff and a Police presence to thwart the increased drug pusher presence that these locations attract. This is just one option, There needs to be more money made available by the devolved government.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Dr Richard Simpson @DrRJSimpson
FollowFollow @DrRJSimpson
More

Dr Richard Simpson Retweeted Neil Henderson

People are dying please spare us Your Indy nonsense this is disgraceful. No attempt to analyse why we have 3xrUK rates with same legal framework. 2000+ families affected by deaths in the last 2years will be aghast at this blame game. Did they mention SNP cuts in community&prisons

Dr Richard Simpson added,

D_oCAKFWsAEnfbG.jpg
Neil HendersonVerified account @hendopolis
THE NATIONAL; People are dying. Help us save them #tomorrowspaperstoday
3:14 PM - 16 Jul 2019
 
 

Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP ?Retweeted The National

This is a new low. Either these journalists don’t know that drug treatment and sentencing rests with Holyrood and that @theSNP cut drug services by 23% or they do & are spinning for a nationalist govt against whose door these bodies lie. Utterly reprehensible. Delete your account

Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP ?added,

D_n_tEVVAAAZS5j.jpg
The NationalVerified account @ScotNational
Today’s front page: We gave the UK and Scottish Govts 600 words each to explain how they would tackle the tragedy of Scotland’s drug deaths crisis. The Home Office refused and told us to publish an old quote. So we have.
12:23 AM - 17 Jul 2019
Link to post
Share on other sites

Any truth in this, do you think? 

...

 

 

Close

D_0ft6FXUAAuShz.jpg:large
 

My piece for Scottish Daily Mail on the £941m shortfall in Scottish tax revenues due to lower growth in Scotland. SNP need to take responsibility, lower taxes and back enterprise.?

613 replies228 retweets514 likes
Reply
 613
Link to post
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, barca72 said:

Any truth in this, do you think? 

...

 

 

Close

D_0ft6FXUAAuShz.jpg:large
 

My piece for Scottish Daily Mail on the £941m shortfall in Scottish tax revenues due to lower growth in Scotland. SNP need to take responsibility, lower taxes and back enterprise.?

613 replies228 retweets514 likes
Reply
 613
 
17 hrs ago

Derek Mackay slams Treasury’s Liz Truss over ‘false' Budget claim

Scottish Government Finance Secretary Derek Mackay hit back at claims of ‘additional cash’ for Scotland

Scottish Government Finance Secretary Derek Mackay hit back at claims of ‘additional cash’ for Scotland

 
     6
 

DEREK Mackay has hit out at a UK Treasury Minister over a “ridiculously false” claim on the Scottish Budget.

Tory MP Liz Truss said she had provided “additional cash” for the Scottish Government after a shortfall in income tax revenues.

Writing in the Scottish Daily Mail, Truss said: “Our mutually agreed fiscal framework is designed to benefit the Scottish Government if growth in Scotland is faster than the rest of the UK.

“Thankfully, it also cushions the blow when growth is down in Scotland. So I have confirmed that the Treasury will give £737 million additional cash through the block grant to the Scottish Government.”

The Scottish Government faces a £204m Budget shortfall, with income tax receipts falling £941m short of the 2017-18 period.

However, the £737m being provided by the UK Government reflects the amount it should not have taken off the block grant to Scotland when the Budget was set out, rather than being “confirmation” of additional money, and so the error will be corrected in the 2021-21 Budget.

 

 

The Scottish Budget is based on forecasts, and so when the outturn figures were available, the block grant adjustment (BGA) was recalculated to £737m lower than had been predicted.

The BGA compensates the UK Government for money it would have received from tax revenues that are now devolved.

Hitting back on Twitter, Mackay said: “This is a wilful misrepresentation of the truth. The UK income tax take for 2017-18 is lower than expected which means that Treasury deducted £737m more from our block grant in 2017-18 than they should have. The UK is simply correcting this forecasting mistake.

“I wonder why the UK Tory Treasury Minister would be choosing now as her timing to make such a ridiculously false case against Scotland.

“And how absurd from a Tory government paralysed by their own divisions with no economic credibility, who in an act of social and economic vandalism are about to take the UK & Scotland into a painful recession wilfully and knowingly.

“Meanwhile in Scotland we are outperforming rUK on low unemployment, export growth, productivity improvement and other economic indicators. All at risk from a Tory Brexit!"

 

He continued: “With full economic powers I’m sure we could do so much more in Scotland. An alternative to the failed austerity, London-centric and inequality compounding Tory economic model – and that’s before your Brexit car crash!

“Scotland is building a more progressive income tax system, based on principles that protects the economy, raises revenue for public services and protects the lower paid. 55% of taxpayers pay less in Scotland than they would if they lived south of the Border.

 
 
 

 

 
  • 1
  • 2
  • 35“In contrast to a principles-based tax approach, the Tory party has clearly gone off the deep end with their two leadership candidates leaning to the extremes.”

Fact Check: Liz Truss’s claims just don’t add up

The National: UK Treasury minister Liz TrussUK Treasury minister Liz Truss

TREASURY Minister Liz Truss said the UK Treasury is “cushioning the blow” of lower than expected income tax receipts in Scotland.

Truss said the fiscal framework “cushions the blow when growth is down in Scotland. So I have confirmed that the Treasury will give £737 million additional cash through the block grant to the Scottish Government.”

Should Scotland be singing the praises of Westminster for this generous act, then?

The UK provides a block grant to Scotland via the Barnett Formula, but with some of Scotland’s budget funded by tax revenues that are now devolved, an adjustment is made to compensate the UK Government for money it would have received. This is called the block grant adjustment (BGA).

Scotland’s budget is based on forecasts. So, the forecast income tax revenue in the Holyrood 2017-18 budget was £11,857m. The corresponding block grant adjustment (BGA) was forecast at £11,750m.

But income tax receipts in Scotland and the BGA were lower than expected. Revenues in Scotland were actually £941m below predictions and the BGA was recalculated at £11,013m. That’s £737m lower than was forecast.

In other words, the UK Government took £737m off the Scottish block grant when the budget was set that, in fact, it shouldn’t have. Truss has not “confirmed” additional cash – this is just how this framework works.

The Scottish Government will have to find the cash to cover a £204m Budget shortfall, but this is not a UK Government bail-out.

 

 
 
     
 
 
 
 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

University dropout Derek MacKay “slamming” anyone for lying brings a whole new dimension to the old adage about pots and black kettles. He demonstrates weekly that he hasn’t the slightest idea how the nation’s finances work and survives only on the strength of press releases contrived by his staff.

Link to post
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Bill said:

University dropout Derek MacKay “slamming” anyone for lying brings a whole new dimension to the old adage about pots and black kettles

He was so dishonest he had kids.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.