Drug treatment boss challenges authorities to try to open overdose prevention service that could save lives

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The boss of a major charity on the frontline of Britain's drug deaths crisis has defied authorities by announcing he plans to open potentially life-saving overdose prevention centers within months. with or without their help.

As drug charities prepare for a feared influx of deadly potent synthetic opioids into the UK, experts urge Rishi Sunak's government to end its long-standing opposition to facilities where people can consume illicit drugs. in the presence of trained staff armed with naloxone, a drug to reverse overdoses.

As Scotland now strives to create the UK's first official facility in Glasgow, after A groundbreaking intervention by the country's highest judiciary, brought in to end a long-running dispute between Holyrood and Westminster, hopes for similar services in England and Wales have yet to materialize.

Exasperated by years of fruitless discussions as drug-related deaths rise, and buoyed by developments in Scotland, Martin Blakeborough, chief executive of the charity Kaleidoscope, toldThe Independent< /em> that it planned to trial several “micro” drug use spaces in South Wales as early as this summer – potentially even earlier than in Glasgow.

“We currently have a active debate in Wales and I basically put it on the agenda, partly by saying, 'We're going to start this service with or without you'," Mr Blakeborough said.

"We've been talking about this in Wales for 10 years and we've done nothing," he added. "The Scotsman gave me the confidence to say, 'I'm going to blow your cover now, I'm going to make a big deal about this,' and eventually it became a political priority."

There are more than 200 overdose prevention services in 17 countries, including the United States, Canada, France, Australia and Iceland. Some facilities have reversed thousands of overdoses, without a single death, without an increase in the number of people using drugs, generally reducing or having no impact on local crime levels, and often significantly reducing drug-related waste and street injection incidents.

Despite this, these facilities have long been rejected – and even mocked – by...