Substance use expert calls for change in drugs law to enable more safe drug consumption spaces

The call from Professor Catriona Matheson comes as she prepares to give evidence at a government inquiry.

city skyline with bridge and river
Glasgow is the site of the UK's first pilot safer drug consumption facility.

An expert in substance use from the University of Stirling is calling for a change in legislation around drug use in the UK.

The call from Catriona Matheson, Professor in Substance Use, comes as she prepares to give evidence at an inquiry into the country’s pilot Safer Drug Consumption Facility, which opened in Glasgow last month.

Professor Matheson, who is among the experts appearing at the Scottish Affairs Committee on Wednesday 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 Scotland’s Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC confirmed that the centre’s users would not be prosecuted under the Misuse of Drugs 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.

“My hope and the evidence I will give to the committee on Wednesday is that this is an opportunity for a new government to consider drug law reform and revisiting reform of the Misuse of Drugs Act to enable us to provide these types of facilities in other parts of the country.”

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