Scottish Greens vow rollout of drug consumption rooms

It is modelled on facilities in Oslo and Bergen in Norway, and Lisbon in Portugal, which have high rates of drug abuse and deaths.

The Scottish Greens, who are to unveil their manifesto in Glasgow next Tuesday, are backing calls from the Scottish Drugs Forum, which earlier this week urged the creation of more safe drug consumption rooms.

Over the last year, the Thistle in the city’s east end had 11,348 visits by 575 registered people, with 7,827 injections carried out and staff treating 93 medical emergencies.

Scotland has the highest rate of drug-related deaths per head anywhere in Europe, with 1,172 lives lost in 2023 alone. The number fell to 1,017 fatalities in 2024 but increased, with 81 more deaths last year.

The facility opened last year (Jane Barlow/PA)

Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay said research has shown that safe consumption rooms save lives.

“The research shows that safe consumption rooms save lives and reduce the harm caused by drugs, while providing compassionate support for people living with addictions," she said.

“That is why, at this election, the Scottish Greens will be offering a fully funded rollout of these services as just one part of the public health response to Scotland’s drugs crisis.

“The current stigma helps nobody. Our policies need to be evidence-based, with compassionate services delivered by trained medical professionals, who can offer drug users the support they need and deserve."

She added: “But safe consumption rooms alone will not fix the problem. Drug deaths do not happen in isolation.

"Addiction is often worsened by other factors such as limited job opportunities, sky-rocketing bills, and failing public services, and we urgently need to address those root causes.

“People battling addiction deserve our support to recover, and stay recovered. That means truly treating drug addiction like the public health crisis it is.”

In February this year, the Scottish Conservatives launched a new policy proposal demanding the facility be closed and that plans for future drug consumption rooms be axed.

Annie Wells, the Scottish Tory spokeswoman for drugs, told The Herald: "The SNP's reckless experiment in state-sponsored drug taking has clearly not worked."

But earlier this week Kirsten Horsburgh, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum, praised the “compassionate” approach to drug users taken at The Thistle and called for the model to be replicated.

Speaking to Abbeycare’s Listen Up podcast, she said: “It is not just this model that we could use across Scotland. There are a variety of options: mobile units, fixed sites, third sector-run, peer-led facilities. All of these should be on the table.

“I would like to see us get to a point where any service that is providing injecting equipment would also be able to provide a space for people to use in safe conditions, so that the alternative for people going outdoors … and being discovered some hours later having had an overdose does not occur, and that people are treated with that respect.”

She said The Thistle was not simply a space in which drugs are taken, but that it provides other kinds of support for people, such as showers and clothing.

Gillian Mackay speaking at an independence rally in Edinburgh last month (Image: Colin Mearns)

Ms Horsburgh added: “To have that space is invaluable. It has taken us so long to get it. It has been really sad to see some of the critique around the service, particularly where people are being linked into interventions that are creating positive change for them in their lives.

“That might be getting into treatment, that might be making links back with their families, that might be getting their housing sorted, it might be getting their benefits addressed — a whole range of different improvements.”

She acknowledged that it was important that any concerns raised by people living near the facility were addressed.