Glasgow MSP, Paul Sweeney, told of volunteering with Peter Krykant at his Overdose Prevention Centre in Glasgow.

The Labour MSP spoke of his experience with the drug campainger, during a debate on drugs strategy, in the Scottish Parliament.

Sweeney said he wanted to see a network of overdose preventions sites, like the one operated from a van, then a converted ambulance, by Mr Krykant, run in permanent premises by the government. 

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He said: "I volunteered with Peter week in, week out and was never arrested meaning they clearly can be established within the current settlement. If they were illegal, I would have been lifted and charged.

"The fact is, I wasn’t. I saw overdoses being reversed and lives being saved, so I defy anyone to tell me that they don’t work.

"Peter took into his care, a 21 year old girl, and she overdosed in front of him three times.

Glasgow Times:

"She was sleeping in a tent in an alleyway in Glasgow, because she had been sexually abused and she was fearful of reaching out to any sort of care or official services because she suffered so badly previously.

"Peter frequently broke down because he was terrified he would turn up the next day and she would be dead.

"And that culminated in him being triggered because he was a recovering addict to the point where he relapsed and his own life was then at risk. And I had to feel the fear of my friend potentially not picking up the phone to me.

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"That is the lived experience of hundreds if not thousands of Scots, and it’s something we cannot tolerate any more.

"My heart breaks whenever I hear politicians dismiss overdose prevention sites or hide behind constitutional restraints. Because every time they do, time is wasted. We don’t have time to waste , every six hours someone else dies.

"That means by the time we all go to bed tonight, at least one more person will have died, leaving behind heartbreak and agony for their loved ones."