Professor Catriona Matheson

The call from Catriona Matheson, professor in substance use at the University of Stirling, was part of her evidence to an inquiry into Scotland’s pilot Safer Drug Consumption Facility, which opened in Glasgow last month.

Professor Matheson, who was among the experts appearing at the Scottish Affairs Committee in Westminster, said a change is needed to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to enable more safer drug consumption facilities across the UK.

The pilot facility only went ahead after Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC confirmed that the centre’s users would not be prosecuted under the 1971 Act for possession of drugs within the confines of the facility.

Professor Matheson, who was chair of the Ministerial Drug Death Task Force for Scotland from 2019 to 2021, said: “This inquiry by the Scottish Affairs Committee provides a new opportunity and fresh eyes to not only look at the Glasgow safer drug consumption site but also to consider the implications of that for other parts of the country.

“The signs from the Glasgow safe consumption site are positive in the very early days but there is a lot of information to be learned from that.

“In the meantime, other areas are still struggling with problem drug use across the United Kingdom and this is because of an inability to open safer consumption facilities due to the nature of our Misuse of Drugs Act, which limits the capacity to do that.”

The Glasgow facility, known as The Thistle, joins more than 100 safer drug consumption rooms in 10 countries across the world, including Ireland. They are considered to be an effective harm reduction measure, including addressing drug-related deaths and transmission of blood-borne diseases.