Consumption rooms: a legal place for illegal drugs?
Scotland approves UK's first trial facility where users can take drugs under medical supervision
The UK's first consumption room for illegal drugs has been given the go-ahead by Scotland's authorities.
The trial facility, which will allow users to take drugs hygienically and under medical supervision, will be located in Glasgow, a city that has "long had the worst drug death rate in Europe", where more than 400 drug users "regularly inject in public in the city centre", said Al Jazeera.
The proposal for a "safe" consumption room has been "discussed for years", said BBC News, but can now go ahead following a decision by Scotland's chief public prosecutor that "users would not be prosecuted for possessing illegal drugs while at the facility". The consumption room is "supported by Scottish National Party, Labour and Liberal Democrat politicians", but they remain at odds with the UK Home Office, which said that "there is no safe way to take illegal drugs".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'Public health emergency'
Numerous attempts to instigate similar schemes have been "blocked by the Home Office", said The Big Issue, despite a range of experts, including the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, backing the proposals. Campaigners say that consumption rooms can reduce overdose deaths, as well as drug-related litter.
In 2021, drug-related deaths hit record highs in Scotland, and despite more than £250 million invested in addiction services since, the death rate still remains "three times higher than 30 years ago".
The SNP MP for Glasgow Central, Alison Thewliss, said the UK government's war on drugs had been an "utterly humiliating failure". It should "finally accept" that its current strategy had created a "public health emergency", she said.
Consumption rooms created in other parts of the world had been a "resounding success", she wrote on the SNP website this month. Criminalising drug users had done "nothing but entrench a problem", and though safe consumption rooms would not be "a silver bullet" to Scotland's drug crisis, they would be the first step in a "new health-led approach to tackling drugs".
It's true that consumption rooms "do not directly guide individuals towards recovery or abstinence from drug use", Annemarie Ward, CEO of Faces and Voices of Recovery UK, told Al Jazeera. However, they are effective in "harm reduction" and "mitigating immediate risks".
'Significant reservations'
Scotland Minister Alister Jack said ministers in Holyrood had "no more excuses" not to act on the drug crisis, after the UK government said it would not "intervene" in the consumption room trial. But, he added, the government's position remained that consumption rooms were not an "easy solution", and that authorities should continue to "fully enforce the law" on drug users.
Malcolm Graham, head of local policing at Police Scotland, told the BBC that officers would "continue to crack down on drug dealers".
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said there were still "significant reservations about the effectiveness" of consumption rooms, but that his party were happy for a "variety of potential solutions" to be considered.
In a letter published in The Scotsman earlier this month, Richard Lucas of the Scottish Family Party said consumption rooms were the first step towards "the legalisation and social acceptance of dangerous addictive drugs". A safe facility "takes away a motivation to stop", he said, and would only lead to more drug abuse, addiction and deaths.
A similar project in Portugal was acclaimed by public officials, said Michael Simmons in The Spectator, but "the figures tell a different story". With nearly as many overdose deaths in 2021 as there were in 2001, it was "hardly a roaring success".
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Richard Windsor is a freelance writer for The Week Digital. He began his journalism career writing about politics and sport while studying at the University of Southampton. He then worked across various football publications before specialising in cycling for almost nine years, covering major races including the Tour de France and interviewing some of the sport’s top riders. He led Cycling Weekly’s digital platforms as editor for seven of those years, helping to transform the publication into the UK’s largest cycling website. He now works as a freelance writer, editor and consultant.
-
New Alzheimer's drug rejected: is Nice being nasty?
Talking Point Health watchdog has announced lecanemab will be denied to NHS patients on cost grounds
By The Week UK Published
-
Scottish drug deaths: what's gone wrong?
The Explainer The latest figures show an increase in drug misuse deaths in Scotland
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Mushroom edibles are tripping up users
the explainer The psychedelics can sometimes have questionable components
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Rapamycin: the popular drug for longevity among biohackers
Under the Radar Living longer may be getting easier
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Pharmaceutical companies are warning of a rise in knockoff drugs
Under the Radar The World Health Organization is also urging consumers to be cautious
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
FDA panel rejects ecstasy to treat PTSD
Speed Read It cited flawed study data and the potential for abuse
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The push to ban decaf coffee
Under the radar Going caffeine-free can be risky
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
US overdose deaths fell in 2023, still topped 100k
Speed Read New CDC data shows drug overdose deaths dropped for the first time in five years
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published