Tuesday kicked off on the main stage with a debate on the motion: 'Alcohol does more harm than drugs'. Compered by TV doctor and A-list candidate David Bull, it pitted a senior journalist against a Glaswegian drugs worker.
Rosie Boycott, former editor of the Independent on Sunday, proposed the motion, speaking from first-hand experience of the how alcohol can wreck lives, careers and families.
She was followed by a moving speech from Jim Doherty who runs Gallowgate Family Support Group in the east-end of Glasgow which supports the families of drug addicts. Jim, who has two heroin addict sons, spoke of how the heart has been torn out of his community by the drugs epidemic. All the shops on his high street are locked because of the number of addicts who would otherwise hold them up with dirty needles or knives.
Those opposing the motion won the debate by a decisive margin of 63% to 37%. Afterwards, Rosie Boycott was consoled by Nick Pisani of the Leader's Office. 'We weren't expecting that result', he was overheard to say.
Many questioned whether this was a particularly useful motion. Clearly alcohol and drugs both do immense harm. The real issue is surely how alcoholics and drug addicts can be rehabilitated to live productive lives free of the tyranny of addiction.
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