"DEAD people cannot recover."

That was what Dave Higham, the founder of The Well Communities, said when he was asked about the concept of rooms to safely inject drugs. 

The Scottish government has been pressing for a so-called safe consumption facility to be set up - but efforts have been blocked by Westminster. 

However a Home Affairs select committee of MPs has published a report recommending a pilot in Glasgow is supported by Westminster and jointly funded by both governments. 

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, there were 12 deaths related to drug poisoning in Barrow in 2021, and 17 in 2020. 

The ONS figures show that the age-standardised mortality rate - which accounts for age and population size - stood at 20.8 deaths per 100,000 people in Barrow between 2019 and 2021, well above the rate for England as a whole which is 7.9. 

Dave Higham, the founder of the drug recovery support charity The Well, said: "It is difficult because everyone says not in our backyard. It is a stigma attached to it. I think one of the things I always say is that dead people cannot recover. 

"So how are we going to stop people dying? If there is an area where people can go and safely inject without fear of going over and the support's there then why not?"

READ MORE: 12 drug related deaths in Barrow last year according to ONS

Mr Higham made the case that the people who would be using these kinds of facilities are not users who would be interested in a way to legally take party drugs but addicts who feel that they cannot escape their lifestyle. 

He said that it is not 'attractive' drug use. 

"If going to prison doesn't stop people taking it, if people overdose and dying doesn't stop people taking it, it might be a place where you have a conversation. It's not attractive drug use. If you look at people and they say I really want to stop but I don't know how to, this is a great opportunity to start conversations."

He said that these facilities could provide 'a captive audience' for charities such as The Well to offer an alternative way to addicts. 

A Home Office spokesperson said: “There is no safe way to take illegal drugs, which devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities, and we have no plans to consider this.

“Our 10-year Drugs Strategy set out ambitious plans, backed with a record £3 billion funding over three years to tackle the supply of illicit drugs through relentless policing action and building a world-class system of treatment and recovery to turn people’s lives around and prevent crime.”