A report has praised plans for a "shooting gallery" for drug users and called on other UK cities to replicate Glasgow's strategy, after new figures showed a huge rise in discarded needles in the city.

Call-outs to the council for the removal of drug-related litter, mainly syringes and hypodermic needles, soared between 2016 and 2017, from 324 to 543, a 68 per cent increase.

Thinktank Volteface claimed the figures in its report Back Yard were evidence of a rise in street injecting, and along with a rise in HIV transmission rates, added urgency to the need for a drug consumption room.

But the report comes come after Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC seemingly blocked plans for the safer drug consumption facility, by refusing to rule out prosecuting people for possession on their way to or from the centre..

However Back Yard,, which was commissioned by Westminster's Drugs, Alcohol and Justice Cross-Party Parliamentary Group, says Glasgow's health and Social Care Partnership should press ahead with the project, and calls on other UK authorities to follow suit.

The report says drug-related deaths and drug-related litter have risen to unprecedented levels in the UK and concludes drug consumption rooms are a viable policy alternative which could address these harms.

Drug-related litter including needles and syringes, discarded in public parks, playing fields, public toilets, footpaths and car parks, place people in the community at risk of needlestick injuries which could transfer infectious diseases, such as HIV and Hepatitis C, according to report author Liz McCulloch, of Volteface

She said: "Robust evidence demonstrates drug consumption rooms are effective in reducing street injecting, the number of syringes discarded in a vicinity, drug-related deaths and needle sharing. They also increase uptake in drug treatment.

"Evidence shows that drug consumption rooms do not increase drug use, frequency of injecting, drug dealing, drug trafficking or drug-related crime in the surrounding environment."

She acknowledged concerns around the legality of drug consumption rooms, but said there was flexibility within the law for the police to exercise discretion in the public interest.

"The Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership applied for permission from the Lord Advocate to allow the facility to operate through discretion. The Lord Advocate did not approve this application, but has given a clear steer on the next stage in the legal process to allow Glasgow to proceed," she said. "This will involve working with the Scottish Government, which officials are already doing."

She added: "Glasgow City Council has chosen to implement drug consumption rooms as it is serious about protecting the community from the risks of life-changing infectious diseases. Other localities in the UK would do well to follow in their footsteps."

Alison Thewliss, MP for Glasgow Central, has backed the report. She said the issue could not continue to be ignored. "I’ve witnessed people injecting in broad daylight near to my office at Glasgow Cross, and the reality is that used needles and other drug paraphernalia are being regularly discarded in public places, which is becoming a major health risk," she said. "Evidence from safe injecting facilities in other countries demonstrates they reduce levels of drug addiction, as well as improving public safety through reducing the level of discarded needles and other related items in the streets."

She said opponents of the scheme should imagine how they would feel if a loved one was addicted to drugs. " Where would I want them to be? Would I want them to be on dirty waste ground, in a dark city centre lane or a back court all alone, or supervised in the safety of a consumption room with trained medical staff available and services to help move them away from drugs in the longer term?"

Dr Saket Priyadarshi, Glasgow Associate Medical Director at Addiction Services at NHSGGC, said ministers were supportive of addressing the legal barriers to the implementation and sustainability of a Safer Drug Consumption Facility in Glasgow. "We will work with the Scottish Government now with regards to the legislation change required," he said.

A spokesman for Glasgow HSCP added: “We are continuing to work on our proposal to open a safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow.

“Our focus is now on finding a way to secure the appropriate legislative framework that will ensure the facility can open legitimately.

“With HIV infection still rising among drug injectors and drug-related death a persistent issue for the city, the case for the facility in Glasgow remains as compelling as ever.

“If opened, the facility will ensure drug injectors have access to immediate medical support and also a range of services that lead towards recovery.”