I was dismayed that the Edinburgh health and social care Integration Joint Board is proceeding with a consultation to choose a permanent city centre site for a “safer” consumption room for taking illegal drugs.
The SNP Scottish Government will seemingly do anything when it comes to the plague of drug addiction, except admit its policy of defunding rehab beds has been a tragic disaster, and rather than support Conservative plans to establish a right to rehabilitation it prefers to keep addicts hooked.
Despite growing unhappiness among people living near the first drug taking centre in Glasgow, the response is to foist one on Edinburgh, with the cooperation of local politicians despite the evidence.
These consultations are only ever designed to produce a pre-determined outcome and I doubt it will include a clear option to reject such a facility altogether.
The last thing the NHS establishment wants is something which would threaten their cosy consensus, preferring instead to have people stumbling around in a drug-addled stupor amid residents, traders trying to earn a living and visitors to the World Heritage site.
The truth is there are no good options for a place like this, yet more money will be wasted trying to present what emerges as a popular choice when it will be no such thing.
There has been much talk about how to rebuild the Old Town’s permanent population and if there is one policy guaranteed to prevent making it a more attractive place to live it’s making it a mecca for addiction.
