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Drug room means more addicts

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Saturday, 10 May, 2025
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Sue Webber MSP

I hope those pressing for Edinburgh to establish Scotland's second safe consumption room for drug addicts have seen a recent investigation into Glasgow's pilot scheme by radio station LBC.

More needles discarded outside the facility, users attracted from all parts of the city who loiter outside after it has closed for the day, local being confronted by increasingly aggressive addicts.

The most positive claim from medics working in the centre which allows addicts to use illegal drugs without fear of arrest, is those who overdose in the centre might otherwise have died. But that's no guarantee they won't overdose elsewhere.

In Edinburgh the most likely location would be Panmure House in the Cowgate because of its central position, which judging by the Glasgow experience it will inevitably mean more addicts drawn to the city centre in an area already plagued by antisocial behaviour and theft.

Royal Mile shopkeepers already report regular instances of aggressive addicts stealing from their businesses. A drug consumption room will only make an already intolerable situation worse. At least Glasgow's experience should mean there is no argument about where such a facility in Edinburgh should be sited. Nowhere.

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