Peter Krykant, a Scottish overdose activist

On this April afternoon, Peter Krykant parked his vehicle – an unmarked ambulance – as usual in an alley just behind Trongate, one of the busiest shopping streets in Glasgow, the economic capital of Scotland. “When I do something, I don’t do it halfway”, launches us the 40-year-old, slender figure in fleece and sneakers, showing his ambulatory drug consumption room, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, which he opened the previous summer.

Peter Krykant has become a figure in Scottish associations, one of the main advocates for better care for junkies. Braving the authorities, railing against the inaction of the Scottish government led by the independence party SNP, he wants to put an end, at his level, to a vicious circle (lack of funds, inadequate legislation, care too slow, social distress) who killed 1,264 people by overdose in 2019, three and a half times more than elsewhere in the UK.

As a proportion of its population, Scotland holds the European record for overdose deaths. To advance this cause, Peter Krykant even stood in the Scottish parliamentary elections on 6 May, as an independent, in a constituency in his hometown, Falkirk East (south-central Scotland).

An HIV infection prevention project

“In 2009, there were 5 deaths by overdose in Falkirk, in 2019, 41! “, deplores Peter, who also advocates more financial aid to low-income families, who for years have suffered from a lack of access to public transport and housing, which is far too expensive. The SNP left for an important victory, with a leader, Nicola Sturgeon, the current Prime Minister, very popular and a good part of the Scottish population now sensitive to the independence cause. “If I came second in the riding it would be a miracle and it would give me a platform to help change. “

“We distributed sterile syringes to addicts, but we let people inject their drugs in their environment, absolutely not secure. I had had enough, so I started this project. »Peter Krykant

Because Peter Krykant is tired of the status quo: “Twenty years ago, I was the same, I was on drugs 300 meters from here. Today, in the same place, there are still as many syringes on the ground ”, he recounts. In this district of Glasgow, very close to Central Station, around 500 people use drugs every day – most of them homeless, but relocated to hotels since the start of the pandemic.

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