THE Scottish Parliament has backed calls for the UK Government to change the law to allow a safe drug injecting room in Glasgow to go ahead.

Labour, the Greens and LibDems backed a SNP government motion that the safe drug consumption facility was needed to cut drug deaths infection rates and overdoses.

The Tories opposed the policy saying the government should focus on abstinence policies instead.

Public Health Minister, Aileen Campbell, said it was not a “panacea” for all Scotland’s drug problems but that international evidence shows it can make a difference.

Glasgow City Council and NHS Greater Glasgow through the Integration Joint Board want to set up a facility in the city centre.

But the UK Government need to change the drugs law to allow the Lord Advocate to give immunity from prosecution for those taking drugs to the centre.

Ms Campbell said in Glasgow the HIV levels among drug injecting addicts was an epidemic and drug death rates were “unacceptable”.

She said there were 170 drug related deaths in Glasgow in 2016

Ms Campbell added: “That is unacceptable and it demands action.”

Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar, said he and his party supported the plans for the safer injecting rooms and backed the calls to the UK government.

He said since 1995 drug deaths had been rising through the years of a Labour and SNP governments at Holyrood and the drug strategy was failing.

He said: “The increase in drug related deaths is a tragedy for individuals, families and society and it is getting worse.”

He said the rate of deaths has doubled in a decade.

However he criticised the cutting of drug and alcohol partnership budgets.

Annie Wells, Glasgow Conservative MSP, said: “I fundamentally do not support the creation of such a facility.”

She said she knows what drug addiction can do having lost friends to drugs recently.

She added: “This is why I am so passionate that we work first and foremost to get people off drugs altogether.”

She said the government should instead focus on smaller abstinence based projects.

Instead of, what she said was: “Setting up a place for people and saying ’there’s a place where you can go and take heroin’.”