THESE ARE THE DRUGS THAT KILLED MY SON

Linda McVean bought 28 street valium pills for £10 in a busy, wide-open area of Glasgow's city centre, just to prove how easy it was. Then she told the dealer..

- MARK McGIVERN

THE mum of an overdose victim bought drugs on a busy street, then told the dealer: "These are the same pills that killed my son."

Linda McVean paid £10 on Glasgow's Argyle Street for 28 street valium pills months after her boy Frankie lost his life after dabbling with the drugs.

She then made a report to Police Scotland, telling detectives she was disgusted the trade in drugs is allowed to go on in full view of shoppers.

Linda has begun her own crusade to save lives, which led to a meeting with First Minister Humza Yousaf.

Linda, from Penilee, Glasgow, said: "I acted impulsively and bought the pills to prove how easy it is to do so.

"Since I lost Frankie in May I have learned so much about drugs, about how easy it is to buy them, how cheap they are and how little is being done to stop those selling street drugs.

"I realise that having crackdowns in certain places might just drive dealers elsewhere but I just think that the police should be making things as difficult for them as possible."

Linda, 54, spoke out after the official statistics for 2022 showed a drop in recorded drug deaths from 1330 to 1051, the lowest for five years and a fall of 21 per cent.