North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has written to the Minister for Social Services and Public Health highlighting the widespread concern regarding drug-taking and anti-social behaviour in Rhosddu, Wrexham, and calling for Welsh Government action to address the problems.
In his letter, Mr Isherwood refers to the recent public meeting which took place to discuss the issue, which was attended by members of the community and representatives of the Police and Wrexham Council.
He told the Minister that he has been advised that residents had spoken of their own experiences of dealing with drug users perpetrating this behaviour, of their perception that there had been a lack of action from the Police and the Council in response, of their concern about the way that services that help substance misusers are distributed, of their belief that planning failures had led to the services being centred in one area and of their frustration that planning policies and legislation mean they cannot be moved on.
Mr Isherwood has been told that In Wrexham, 250,000 needles are distributed, over a twelve month period without any exchange policy in place.
As a result of the meeting Mr Isherwood was asked to raise three issues with the Minister; the need for the Welsh Government to review its Needle Exchange Policy; the need for the Welsh Government to provide urgent funding to enable the clean-up of drugs paraphernalia which is a consequence of the current policy and the need for the Welsh Government to implement the recommendations of its Health and Social Care Committee to make fundamental changes to the way in which they are providing services.
His letter states: “I would therefore be grateful if you could give this your attention and confirm your intended course of action.”