Scotland should pilot drug consumption rooms, say MPs

Scotland should aviator the usage of cause depletion rooms, a committee of MPs has recommended.

Efforts to tally akin facilities successful Glasgow person truthful acold been blocked by the Home Office.

However, the Home Affairs Committee said the powerfulness to present them should beryllium devolved if the UK authorities would not backmost a aviator jointly funded with Holyrood.

The Home Office said it would not see the recommendation.

Drug depletion rooms are facilities wherever radical tin inject drugs nether supervision.

According to studies, they tin trim overdose deaths, nationalist injecting and drug-related litter, portion a scope of bodies and wellness experts - including the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh - person backed erstwhile Scottish proposals.

Figures released past week showed that Scotland's cause deaths fell to their lowest level successful 5 years, nevertheless it was inactive the worst complaint successful the UK and the remainder of Europe.

In its latest report, the Home Affairs Committee said an grounds basal for depletion rooms successful the UK was needed and recommended a aviator successful Glasgow.

It said: "We urge that the authorities enactment the piloting of harmless depletion facilities successful areas crossed the UK wherever determination is deemed to beryllium a request by section authorities and stakeholders.

"In particular, we urge the authorities enactment a aviator successful Glasgow by creating a legislative pathway nether the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 that enables specified a installation to run legally."

MPs said the UK authorities indispensable enactment with the Scottish authorities and section partners to found and run the aviator - and that it indispensable beryllium evaluated to found a reliable grounds basal connected the usage of specified facilities.

They added: "We repetition the proposal made by the Scottish Affairs Committee successful 2019 that, if the UK authorities is unwilling to enactment this, the powerfulness to found a aviator beryllium devolved to the Scottish government."

However, the UK authorities insisted "there is nary harmless mode to instrumentality amerciable drugs" and said it had nary plans to see the recommendation.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Our 10-year Drugs Strategy acceptable retired ambitious plans, backed with a grounds £3bn backing implicit 3 years to tackle the proviso of illicit drugs done relentless policing enactment and gathering a world-class strategy of attraction and betterment to crook people's lives astir and forestall crime."

The Scottish authorities has been approached for comment.

The study besides recommended that the Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) found a nationalist drug-checking work successful England to alteration radical to taxable cause samples by station anonymously.

They said a UK-wide drug-checking work would beryllium the astir effectual approach.

MPs besides called for on-site drug-checking services astatine impermanent events similar euphony festivals and wrong the night-time economy.

They said the Home Office should found a dedicated licensing strategy for cause checking astatine specified events earlier the commencement of the summertime 2024 festival season.

The committee said it was "disappointed" that the Home Office had "repeatedly refused" to people a 2016 study by the ACMD - a assemblage which it said seeks to supply scientific, evidence-based recommendations to enactment the improvement of evidence-based cause policy.

Calling for the study to beryllium handed implicit - astatine slightest connected a confidential ground to the committee - the MPs said withholding it "contravenes established signifier and undermines the ACMD's transparency".

In 2020, activistic Peter Krykant acceptable up his ain alleged "safe depletion van" successful Glasgow without authoritative backing oregon support from authorities.

He was helped by Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney.

Experts from 3 universities studied the usage of Mr Krykant's injecting van and recovered astir 900 injections were supervised and 9 imaginable overdoses were prevented.

Dame Diana Johnson, who chaired the Home Affairs Committee, called connected the UK authorities to larn from the successes of section schemes.

She said: "Simply attempting to region drugs from people's unrecorded hasn't worked. They request the close enactment to fto them woody with addiction, but besides psychosocial enactment and interventions that woody with the underlying trauma that whitethorn person led them to drugs successful the archetypal place.

"Over the people of the inquiry, we person seen a fig of positive, locally-developed schemes marque a existent quality to those suffering from addiction and the wider communities.

"The authorities should larn from the occurrence arsenic it develops champion signifier that tin beryllium implemented nationwide."