Yousaf ‘keen’ to see development of safe drug consumption room in Scotland
Scotland’s First Minister has said he is “keen” to have a safe consumption room for drugs in a location such as Glasgow.
Humza Yousaf spoke ahead on the issue ahead of the anticipated publication of the latest official yearly drug death statistics for Scotland.
The latest yearly figures for drug deaths in Scotland – published in July 2022 – show 1,330 people lost their lives from drug misuse in 2021, the second highest figure on record.
Speaking on a visit to a social enterprise project in Cockenzie, East Lothian, on Wednesday, Mr Yousaf told the PA news agency: “I won’t prejudge these figures but there is still a long way to go in driving down those numbers.
“We don’t want to see any drug deaths, of course, we don’t, but we have to accept that those numbers are far, far too high.
“So, we’ll do everything we can to work cross-party, cross-society where we can, (to) pilot innovate approaches.
“We’re still very keen to see a safe consumption room, for example, in Glasgow.”
He said he wanted to give people who need it same-day access to treatment and greater access to residential rehab.
Plans for a drug consumption room in Glasgow were first floated seven years ago, with the city’s health and social care partnership drawing up plans for one in a bid to stem problem drug use and HIV transmission.
The idea is to allow drug users to inject under the supervision of medical professionals, and the facilities will also provide services to help people deal with addiction.
But the proposal has been caught in a legal wrangle between the Scottish Government and Westminster over prosecution waivers to drugs legislation that would make the process explicitly legal, as drug laws remain reserved.
The Scottish Government announced radical drug reform proposals earlier this month – including decriminalisation of possession for personal use and a framework for the creation of drug consumption rooms – but these were knocked down by Westminster within an hour.