Drug rooms on wheels proposed in Scotland

Mobile drug consumption rooms have been proposed as a cheaper alternative to Glasgow’s much-criticised drug room pilot scheme.

The first experimental drug consumption room, Glasgow’s The Thistle, is a Scottish Government-funded shooting gallery open seven days a week, and has effectively been declared a ‘prosecution-free drug zone’ by the Lord Advocate.

But Annemarie Ward, CEO of addiction recovery charity FAVOR-UK, calculated that The Thistle costs £1,500 per addict per day, while residential rehab in Glasgow costs £1,000 a week.

Expensive intervention

A new report reviewing pilot scheme by the Scottish Affairs Committee admitted it is “undoubtedly an expensive intervention”.

It described The Thistle as the ‘gold standard’, but considered “that a less sophisticated model of the facility could potentially offer corresponding harm reduction benefits, at a reduced cost”.

The possibility of a cheaper mobile facility which “can move to areas where there are spikes in consumption” was suggested, but it noted this “would not be possible under the Lord Advocate’s current statement of prosecution policy, which has a very narrow scope limited to the premises of The Thistle.”

It highlighted that any future funding for drug consumption rooms “must not come at the expense of other recovery and harm reduction facilities”.

Costing a fortune

The Scottish Conservatives’ Deputy Party Spokesperson on Drugs, Annie Wells, stated: “The SNP’s flagship drug consumption room policy has failed.

“The Thistle is costing taxpayers a fortune, wrecking the local community and failing to reduce drug deaths.”

She continued: “State-sponsored drug taking is not the answer to this crisis,” adding that politicians “are ignoring the facts and ploughing ahead with plans for another drug consumption room in Edinburgh.”

Record funding

Commenting on the latest drug death statistics in Scotland, Wells, said: “These harrowing statistics expose the human cost of the SNP’s abject failure to tackle Scotland’s drug deaths emergency.”

Drugs Policy Minister Maree Todd said: “This publication offers a stark reminder that we must do more to address the harms caused by drugs. I want to express my deepest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of all those who have lost their lives to drugs.”

She continued: “we are providing record funding of more than £160 million for alcohol and drugs in 2025-26 and last week I announced new funding to support a number of local organisations targeting specific initiatives to support communities.

“This includes support for young people and women impacted by drug harms.”