“Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction,” says someone living in Europe’s drug death capital.

The only thing Chris is thinking about on this chilly morning in east Glasgow is how soon he can get his first fix.

With a needle in his hand, he walks down the street while vans and cars pass by the housing complex. There is dark liquid in the syringe. He strolls over to a temporary drug den on the corner of a supermarket parking lot. There is a significant chance of getting a dangerous infection from a single trip because it is buried deep in the bushes and is littered with drug paraphernalia and blood-soaked needles.

In Europe, Scotland has the highest rate of drug-related fatalities. Drug abuse claimed 1,172 lives last year, according to data from the National Records of Scotland. Compared to the prior 12 months, that is a 12% increase.

Lack of trust

The idea, according to officials, might entice individuals like Chris away from the back alley and into a clean, medical setting.

Chris talks about his existence on the streets with passion, eloquence, and occasionally frankness. His tent was burned down two days prior to our second encounter with him.

A contentious concept

There have been six prime ministers, three first ministers, many discussions, and almost 8,000 drug-related deaths in Scotland since the proposal for a safer drug-use room in Glasgow was initially put up in 2016.

In certain other large European towns that have reported great success rates in saving lives, it is a common occurrence. The key question will be whether or not fewer people die, as well as how this would affect law enforcement’s efforts.

Opponents of the concept worry that it would minimize drug risks while taking critical funds away from treatment-based strategies.

UK weather: Strong winds and rain are being caused by Storm Ashley.

Strong gusts and a lot of rain have stormed over parts of the UK as Storm Ashley, the season’s first named storm, moves in.

According to the Met Office, the storm is anticipated to cause severe rain in certain places and winds of up to 80 mph, which might endanger life and cause injuries.

At three in the morning on Sunday, a yellow wind warning was issued for all of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as portions of north-west England and Wales. It’ll continue to run until midnight.

There were 132 flood alerts, which indicated that flooding was likely, and 41 active flood warnings, which indicated that flooding was expected, on the Environment Agency’s website on Sunday morning. The warnings were in effect for parts of the Wye estuary, the south Cornwall coast, and the River Severn.

Sunday would be a “widely windy day,” according to the Met Office, with storm-force winds in the northwest and showers and gusty gusts moving eastward, but later on there would be bright periods. According to NIE Networks, less than 1,500 subscribers in Northern Ireland were impacted at 9:45 p.m., with most of them anticipated to be connected later on Sunday night.

More than 10,000 customers who lost power earlier in the day have already had it restored, it said.

The annual Great South Run in Portsmouth, Hampshire, was canceled on Sunday due to weather-related safety concerns, and road users in Scotland were urged to avoid needless travel. Flights to and from Dublin, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh airports were also impacted, as were flights from Britain to Belfast City Airport.