Lord Advocate says ‘no reason' to block more drug consumption rooms
More drug consumption rooms could open across Scotland, the country's senior law officer has indicated.
Dorothy Bain KC, the Lord Advocate, suggested such centres could get the green light as she appeared before the Scottish affairs committee at Westminster and was questioned about the Thistle centre in Glasgow, which opened in January and is the UK's first facility of its kind.
At the centre, drug users can take illegal substances with trained medical staff on hand to deal with emergencies.
Ms Bain said she had not received other proposals to set up safer drug consumption rooms but indicated there was 'no reason' why similar projects could not go ahead.
The Glasgow centre, which is a three-year pilot project, opened after the Lord Advocate made it clear that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute its users for possession of drugs.
She suggested to MPs that this stance could be applied in other areas if this was 'underpinned by the very strong evidence base' that there was in Glasgow.
She also told the committee it was not for her to determine what the criteria should be for judging if the Thistle is a success or not, and there would be a 'rigorous evaluation' of the centre.
On the question of whether it could be continued beyond the three-year pilot period, she said that if the situation remained 'compelling, as it is at the moment', then this could be considered.
Ms Bain was asked by Patricia Ferguson, the committee chairman, if she would consider similar requests for such facilities to be set up by other local authorities. She replied: 'Any other proposal of the type we got in this case would be considered in the same way.'
But she added: 'I haven't received any other proposals.'
The Lord Advocate told MPs that the area where the Glasgow centre is based is one where there were 'particular issues around open drug use', adding that this had an impact on both the local community and businesses in the area.
The Lord Advocate continued: 'There would be no reason why we couldn't make the same sort of assessment in relation to another such facility, so long as it was underpinned by the very strong evidence base we were given in order to make the decision for the Thistle centre.'
While simple possession offences committed within the confines of the facility are not prosecuted under section 5(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, it does not extend to people on their way to and from the facility or anywhere else in Glasgow, and drugs seized by police will not be returned to an individual.
Supt Joanne McEwan of Police Scotland told MPs it was not the force's aim to target those using the facility.
She said: 'Somebody on their way to the facility, that on its own would not offer an officer reasonable grounds to search, to stop and search that person.'
Supt McEwan pointed out that if an officer had reasonable grounds to search somebody and found them to be in possession of a suspected controlled drug, then 'somebody's assertion that they were going to the facility would not provide a defence'.
In March, Allan Casey, Glasgow city council's addiction services convener, told the committee there is a need for more facilities like the Thistle in both Scotland and across the UK.
Recent figures showed there were 251 suspected drug deaths in Scotland between December and February, up from 215 the previous quarter.
It prompted Neil Gray, the Scottish Health Secretary, to warn of the dangers of an 'increasingly toxic and unpredictable drug supply'.
Scottish Labour has warned, however, that the safe consumption room pilot is not a substitute for a co-ordinated effort to stop the supply of drugs by criminal gangs 'who have no thought for the tragedies they unleash'.
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