Humza Yousaf will meet the crusading mum of a Scots drug death victim who is demanding better conditions in homeless hotels.
The First Minister has agreed to meet Linda McVean, whose son Frankie, 30, died after taking street Valium at the Queens Park Hotel in Glasgow’s southside in May.
After Frankie’s death distraught Linda told the Record she would not rest until more safeguards were brought in for people being housed in hotels like the Queens Park.
She has penned a petition, which highlights how people with known drugs issues should not be simply dumped in hotels known to have experienced regular overdoses and multiple deaths.
At the Queens park, at least 10 people have died in three years, including three since the start of May.
Linda, 54, said: “Humza Yousaf said he will meet me on July 21 and I am grateful that he is setting time aside to discuss what is going on, as it is all happening in his constituency.
“People are making an awful lot of money but that should come with responsibility to treat people like human beings, not just herding them into rooms and leaving them to their own devices.
“The responsibility should be shared by the hotel owners, Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government and I want assurances that we will do things better.”
The petition by Linda, of Penilee, Glasgow, states: “Frankie died of a Valium overdose - despite not being a drug addict - while being housed in a notorious homeless hotel by Glasgow City Council earlier this year.”
She adds: “Someone now must take responsibility for all that is going on with this situation.
“Better facilities are required to help and support the homeless and people with addictions. An investigation should be made into where this money is going and what these hotels are doing with it.”
The hotel group which owns the Queens Park has witnessed at least 23 deaths at four premises since March 2020.
Housing campaigner Sean Clerkin, of the Scottish Tenants Association, has called for a public inquiry into overdose deaths in hotels.
He said: “The Scottish Government has refused an inquiry, which is effectively burying its head ion the sand. They are washing their hands of the 45 homeless men and women who have died in the squalid and hellhole hotels in Glasgow in the last three years.
“That includes seven who died in a recent six week period between 1st May 2023 and 10th June 2023.
“We will not give up on a Public Enquiry and we have the support of families of people who have died. “We need a guarantee of immediate improvements for homeless residents in these hotels, including wrap around services being on site and a crackdown by the police on drug dealing in and around these hotels.”
Suspected drug deaths in Scotland in the first three months of the year were five per cent up on the same period last year.
The deaths have continued despite a National Mission on drugs - announced by Nicola Sturgeon in 2021 and backed by £250million of funding over five years.
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