No free gym passes for Shropshire drug users, says council leader

Drug users will not get free use of Shropshire Council gyms and swimming pools, the authority's leader made clear today.

Councillor Keith Barrow spoke after a council report suggested former users of the drug GHB be given free use of council leisure facilities as part of their recovery.

But some people had misunderstood the authority's intentions and thought people who misused drugs were getting 'free hand outs' for breaking the law, said Councillor Barrow.

"I want to be absolutely clear that we have never suggested giving free swimming and gym membership to people who are misusing drugs," he said today.

"A task and finish group, set up to look at the issue of drug dependency, came forward with an idea to encourage people, who had already been through rehabilitation, by giving them the opportunity to attend certain free sessions at leisure centres, to help give them a new direction.

"While that is entirely different from handing out free gym passes to dangerous criminals, which is what a lot of people seemed to think was being suggested. I completely understand people's concerns."

The idea was suggested in a report to the healthy communities scrutiny committee last week. It followed a study on how best to tackle the problem of drug misuse in the Oswestry area, principally involving GHB.

As part of that work, members came up with ideas about how to reduce the number of people using drugs and help them to stay clean.

Councillor Barrow added: "The whole point of these task and finish groups is to come up with innovative ideas to tackle difficult issues, and just because something is suggested in a report does not necessarily mean it will happen.

"At this stage, we are asking the group to do some more work on these recommendations before they go to cabinet."